SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA)(Source: Nick Lawton, KSLA) - The grieving family of a Shreveport native and flight paramedic killed in a helicopter crash are finally home.
Kim Auld, the mother of 26-year-old John Auld III — known as Trey — said his body has been released by the coroner and she and her family will drive to Little Rock Friday afternoon to bring him back to Shreveport.
"The outpouring of support has been completely overwhelming," Kim Auld said. "It has, I know, filled out hearts."
A celebration of Trey's life will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1 at the Krewe of Centaur Den.
His funeral will be held on the following day, Saturday, Dec. 2, with services starting at 10 a.m. at a location that has not been announced yet. Auld is set to be buried in Belmont, La.
Shreveport Limousine provided the Auld family with a large van to make the trip. It was parked outside Auld's old home on Pelican Place Friday afternoon, ready to transport his family members.
"Everybody's filled up Trey's house and the Krewe of Centaur Den, said Kim Auld. "The businesses in town, I cannot thank everybody enough. Our hearts are completely filled and we're here to carry on his legacy."
Auld was killed along with two other men when their Pafford Air One Helicopter crashed near DeWitt, Arkansas last Sunday night. Their crew was responding to a call from Helena Regional Medical Center in Helena.
The cause of the crash is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
According to family coordinators, once they have Auld's body, they will receive an escort from Pafford EMS and Arkansas and Louisiana State Police to Auld's base in Pine Bluff, then to the Louisiana border through Claiborne Parish, into Shreveport and Bossier City and then to the funeral home in Many.
Family coordinators said Auld's body will remain in Many until a memorial is held for him next Friday at 6 p.m. at the Krewe of Centaur den. The funeral will then be held next Saturday.
Kim Auld said she and her family are honored by the escort.
"Since the boys have been born, we've always participated, pulled over, waved flags and to be on that receiving end, it's full circle and it fills out hearts," she said.
A foundation is still in the works to be set up in Auld's memory. Kim Auld said it will be named "Give it Your Auld Foundation," in memory of his years as a flight paramedic, a volunteer with a Caddo Parish fire department and even when he started his own food pantry with his pastor at 15 years old.
Auld also never missed a Krewe of Centaur Parade and was named their Duke of Fun.
"We're going to make sure that he absolutely lives on in the work and the life of service that he had lives on as well," she said.
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