Couple adopted a baby before dying in helicopter crash

<p>A sign announcing the adoption of a baby is no longer a mark of happiness outside Kendall and Kelly Loudermilk's home.</p><p>The Loudermilks died Sunday in a helicopter crash a few hours after they dropped their 13-month-old son off at their minister's home.</p><p>The couple and one of Kendall's flying instructors, 27-year-old Wyatt Zane Rogers, also of Spartanburg, were going to Florida for Kelly's grandmother's funeral when they crashed about 50 miles south of Atlanta. The helicopter went down around 5:45 a.m. behind a home in a wooded rural area near Barnesville, Ga. No one on the ground was hurt.</p><p>Lamar County Sheriff Larry Waller said the chartered Robinson R44 helicopter left Greenville Downtown Airport at 3 a.m. and was headed to Apalachicola Municipal Airport in Florida.</p><p>The cause of the crash still is under investigation.</p><p>The Loudermilks' deaths shocked many of those who knew them.</p><p>The Rev. Larry Holland said he canceled services at his Bethesda Baptist Church after Kelly's mother, Rita Cochran, called him from Florida to tell him the tragic news.</p><p>"It just upset everybody so much," Holland said.</p><p>The Loudermilks lived next door to Kelly's parents.</p><p>"She and her mother was extremely close," Holland said. "Most kids stray away from their parents, but they were extremely close."</p><p>Tonya Fuller, a childhood friend of 30-year-old Kelly, said the couple had been married about three years.</p><p>"(Kelly) prayed that before God took her that she wanted a child," Fuller said. "Every child loved her because she was full of energy and fun to be around."</p><p>Kendall, 32, was a Spartanburg firefighter, but flying was his passion. Kendall's co-workers said he already had a license to fly privately and was working toward earning his commercial license.</p><p>"Losing Kendall is a tremendous loss to this department, the fire service and even more of a loss to anybody who knew him because he was a great person," said Sgt. Michael Roper.</p>

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