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By RUSTY DENNEN
G. Graham Green III, a Fredericksburg Realtor and longtime Rotarian, was a regular on flights with friends to watch Wake Forest University basketball.
He had season tickets and loved to see the North Carolina team play.
Green, 57, a well-known businessman and musician from Stafford County, was among four area men who died in Wednesday night's crash of a small airplane near Stafford Regional Airport.
His son, Graham Green IV remembered his father yesterday, hours after getting news of the crash.
"He was a great guy. Everyone loved him. He'd go into a restaurant, and he'd know at least five people there," the younger Green said. "That's how well liked he was."
"Rick [Potter] was an excellent pilot. He and Rick would go every other week or so to Wake Forest games. They had a couple rough landings, but there was never really a problem," Green said.
Potter had invited the younger Green to go along on Wednesday's flight. "But I had to work, and I really didn't feel safe flying in a little airplane," he said.
Green, 29, joined his father in his Caroline Street business, Green and Associates Realty, six years ago and is now vice president. Garrett Green, 24, his younger brother, was preparing to leave a job in Charlottesville to join the company, at 1122 Caroline St. Graham Green III's wife, Carole, also works at the office.
Thurman "T" Campbell, a friend of Green's, a pilot and chairman of the Stafford Regional Airport Authority, also declined an invitation to fly down to see the game.
He, Potter, Green and Jacoby were all members of the Stafford Rotary Club, of which Green was a founding member.
"I was supposed to go with them [Wednesday], but my wife was sick and I had to cancel," said Campbell. He said that on a previous flight home on Potter's Lancair LC-41 four-seater, the basketball buddies had to divert from Shannon Airport to Stafford Regional Airport due to a strong cross wind.
On Wednesday night, Campbell recalled, "I said to my wife--we were watching the weather--so coincidentally, I said, 'Gee, I hope the guys made it back before the ground fog set in.'"
He found out that a plane had crashed at about 11:35 p.m.
Campbell, owner of Custom Design Heating and Air in Stafford, was a partner in ERA Green-Pates Realty, which later became Green and Associates.
"He was a great guy; very community minded," said Campbell, who was among the many who first met Green at Rotary functions and then became friends or business associates. "He was a very good human being. We'll miss him dearly."
The Greens have endured their share of tragedy in recent years. Over the past five years, their daughter, Meghann's fiancee died suddenly of a heart ailment and the family home on Cranes Corner Road, not far from the airport, burned in a fire.
Green was founder and charter president of the Stafford Rotary Club, formed in 1989. He served as district representative and was named a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow in June 1996. He also enjoyed playing tennis.
Born in Tarrytown, N.Y., Green moved to Northern Virginia from Texas 29 years ago, where he worked for Mount Vernon Realty in Fairfax. He then moved to Stafford to run Mount Vernon's commercial branch on State Route 610. After leaving that company, he and partners acquired Pates Realty in 1991.
Green and his family were known not only for their real estate connections, but also for their music.
The five-piece Graham Green Village Band, featuring polka music, played at numerous functions, restaurants and clubs around town. Green played accordion, and his wife sang.
"He played ay my son's wedding rehearsal dinner," said friend Ralph Sutton.
Sutton also met Green through the Rotary Club. "I became his accountant, and a friend," he said.
"Graham hasn't been here as long as many of us [natives], but he probably knows more people than I do," said Sutton, owner of Sutton and Associates on Princess Anne Street.
"He was very energetic, very caring, always willing to help."
Sutton choked back tears at one point.
"Graham always did travel a lot. We were always kidding him about what vacation he was on."
Green was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Fredericksburg, where his wife is an elder.
The Rev. Allen H. Fisher Jr., pastor of the downtown church, comforted several of the victims' families yesterday.
Green "was a very playful man, well acquainted with sorrow and grief, who had overcome enormous obstacles that would have twisted and embittered other people," Fisher said.
Green is survived by his wife; sons Graham Green IV and Garrett Green of Charlottesville; and two daughters, Meghann Green of Fredericksburg, and Tabitha Barr, of Ashburn.
Funeral arrangements, which are being handled by Covenant Funeral Service, Fredericksburg, were incomplete this morning.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN:
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
