Years living in Southern Arizona shaped how Helen Sharp, one of the South Florida business jet crash victims, created her ceramic art, as her social media posts showed.
Sharp, 40, along with her husband and two children, were among the passengers killed in the crash on Nov. 1, according to family members. The Learjet 60, which departed Austin, Texas, and was bound for the Bahamas, crashed at around 12:50 p.m. ET on Nov. 1 near Greenacres in Palm Beach County, USA TODAY reported.
Family members identified Sharp and the other passengers on Nov. 2 in a joint statement. The family’s nanny, Anita Maria Cetina, and another couple, Rachel Reed and Charmi Fehr, were also aboard.
The investigation into what led the jet to crash into Palm Beach County remained ongoing.
Media reports and Sharp’s social media accounts connected her to the University of Arizona.
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The college’s School of Art provided its condolences to Sharp and her family in a social media post on Nov. 3. Nick Prevenas, a spokesperson for the university, also confirmed Sharp's attendance at the school between 2004-08.
Who was Helen Sharp?
Sharp owned a ceramic studio in Aspen, Colorado, and founded Influential PR, a communications agency, in 2019, the post said.
The ceramic studio announced Sharp’s death, connecting her to the South Florida crash.
“Helen embodied a life well lived. She embraced the world, made beautiful things, built lasting relationships, and loved her people fiercely,” the post read.
Sharp married Adam Robinson, 45, and had two children, Emma, 4, and Charlie, 2.
She met Robinson in Buenos Aires while living abroad, her ceramics studio's social media stated.
This family photos shows Helen Sharp, Adam Robinson and their children, Charlie and Emma, who were among those killed in a Florida plane crash. Sharp attended the University of Arizona.
She grew up in Houston, according to the post.
Her LinkedIn profile stated she attended the University of Arizona between 2004-08. She received her Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies in May 2009, according to the School of Arts. She took classes in classics, anthropology and art history, according to Michael Chesnick, a university spokesperson.
Sharp volunteered with the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind and Habitat for Humanity, according to her profile.
Her time in Southern Arizona shaped her creations and showed up in everything she made, she wrote in social media posts.
Her creations included cactus sculptures and prickly pear cactus wall art.
“Years living in Texas and Arizona taught me to love the cacti, the dry heat, the color of the land at dusk,” she wrote in a post on Oct. 23.
Who were the other passengers?
Families of the passengers asked for privacy as they grieved.
The children's nanny, Cetina, "cared for Emma and Charlie with tenderness and devotion," the post read. Cetina "was truly part of the family" and showed them "a legacy of unconditional love and devotion," the post read.
The other couple on the jet, Reed and Fehr, were described as people "full of joy and adventure."
The families also shared that their hearts were with the families of the pilots, the post read.
Copilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was identified as one of the nine on board.
Filgueiras's sister told USA TODAY Network's Palm Beach Post, the co-pilot "fought until the last moment she could."
Jeff Gregory, 55, was identified as the jet’s captain by his former employer, East Coast Jets, as well as by CBS News and the New York Post.
What’s the latest in the South Florida jet crash investigation?
Video captured the jet nosediving into the ground near a busy roadway before erupting in flames. Officials have not determined what caused the crash, according to National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas Chapman.
Pieces of the aircraft were located nearly 4 miles away from the crash site, Chapman said in a news conference on Nov. 3.
He called that a “very significant bit of evidence, which suggested the plane was breaking up before crashing.
