Three members of the award-winning southern gospel group The Nelons were among those killed in a plane crash Friday as they traveled to a cruise in Alaska, Gaither Music announced in a statement. Killed in the plane crash were husband and wife Jason Clark and Kelly Nelon Clark, their daughter Amber Kistler and her husband Nathan Kistler, Melodi Hodges, and pilot Larry Haynie and his wife, Melissa. They were traveling to the Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska.
Jason Clark, Kelly Nelon Clark, and Amber Kistler were three of the four members of The Nelons, who have won three GMA Dove Awards and received multiple Grammy nominations.
The Clarks’ youngest daughter, Autumn, was not on the plane. She and her husband, Jamie Streetman, learned of the news when they arrived in Seattle. Autumn was the group’s fourth member.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the accident.
“Autumn and Jamie will return home for now to Kelly’s brother, Todd Nelon, and his wife, Rhonda, to begin the hard tasks that lie ahead,” Gaither Management Group said in a statement. “Please keep them, the Kistler family, the Haynie family, and the family of Melodi Hodges in your prayers.”
Autumn Kistler released a statement.
“As many of you have heard by now, my father and mother, Jason and Kelly Nelon Clark, along with my sister, Amber, and brother-in-law, Nathan, as well as our dear friends Melodi Hodges, Larry, and Melissa Haynie, were involved in a tragic plane crash on Friday,” she said. “Thank you for the prayers that have been extended already to me, my husband, Jamie, and our soon-to-be-born baby boy, as well as Jason’s parents, Dan and Linda Clark. We appreciate your continued prayers, love, and support as we navigate the coming days.”
The Nelons won a Dove Award in 2021 for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year (If God Pulled Back the Curtain) and in the same category in 2017 for When Grandpa Sang Amazing Grace.
The group’s roots go back to the late 1970s, when Kelly’s father, Rex Nelon, formed The Rex Nelon Singers.
The group described its music as a “blend of gospel, a cappella, hymns, Americana, folk, and inspirational music,” according to its website.
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Steven Curtis Chapman Offers Heartfelt Support To Autumn Nelon Streetman Following Plane Crash from CCM Magazine on GodTube.
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Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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