Jerry W. Kulinski
Co-owner (with his father) of radio station WVTS-FM in Terre Haute, IN, Mr. Kulinski had gone to Cincinnati to purchase recordings which would air on his station. He had begun his first radio station at the age of 20, and had become a pioneer in the broadcating of stereo music. He was also a consultant to radio stations in Oklahoma and Mexico.
Mr. Kulinski had driven to Indianapolis early the morning of the accident, and had flown to Cincinnati. He was due to arrive back in Terre Haute by 5:30 pm or so, and when he did not arrive, his family was worried he might have been on the plane. They didn't hear the official word until 3:30 the next morning.
His wife was to have accompanied him on the trip, but decided to stay behind just before Mr. Kulinski left home that morning.
Mr. Kulinski had always had an interest in music, having begun violin lessons at the age of 6. He eventually met well-repected fiddler Burdett Caudell, and adopted that style of play almost overnight. As a 15-year-old Country-Western fiddler, he formed a band, the Wabash Valley Troubadours, and played engagements all over the area. It was reported that the name of this group was the inspiration for the call letters of his future radio station, the Wabash Valley Troubadour Station (WVTS).
A cousin of Mr. Kulinski has contacted me, and told me of the stories his dad had about him, of a wonderfully intelligent man who never really got an appropriate burial. (The only remains buried in Jerry Kulinski's casket were his hands.)
Mr. Kulinski had graduated from (Terre Haute) Gerstmeyer High School in 1957, and had attended Indiana State University.
He was survived his wife Dianne. The couple had no children.
Senior picture from his High School yearbook