Pilot 'died doing what he loved best'

The photo ended up being prescient.

It was Edward B. Toth’s senior picture from Osbourn High School, but the message on the back was really what was important.

“It said, ‘You don’t know this right now, but one day you will be my wife,’” Lori Para, Toth’s sister-in-law, recalled Monday.

It took a decade, but Toth did end up with the love of his life, Para’s sister, Lisa.

They would be married almost twice that long; indeed, until Toth died in a plane crash Sunday at Lake Anna in Louisa County.

The story about that famous picture was a happy one friends and family shared Monday as they mourned a man who always lit up the room.

Lisa Toth joked that even at the couple’s wedding, she — the bride — was upstaged.

“His dance line was longer than mine,” she said as relatives and close friends stood nearly shoulder-to-shoulder in the kitchen of her home in Nokesville.

They talked about how Edward Toth, known as “Ted,” was organized yet spontaneous. He believed in always tucking in your shirttail but also had a sense of humor to rival a stand-up comedian’s.

He frequently played the guitar and harmonica at Carmello’s & Little Portugal in Manassas, and he liked to fish.

Mainly, though, he loved his family, and he loved aviation.

“Flying has always been in his blood,” said his brother, Tony, who lives in Warrenton.

A Navy veteran, Ted Toth worked for Colgan Air in his younger days.

Most recently, the 46-year-old was a commercial pilot for Washington-based Danaher Corp.

But he passed away in a Maxair Drifter experimental single-engine plane that he was flying just for fun.

The plane, which was built from a kit, crashed about 100 yards offshore just before 1 p.m. Sunday, said State Police Sgt. Thomas Molnar.

The fixed-wing aircraft was recovered from the lake about 2:45 a.m. Monday, Molnar said, and taken to L & J Marine Co. in Fredericksburg for
further investigation.

State police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were still trying to determine the cause of the crash Monday, Molnar said.

He said it appeared that the plane had taken off from the water before going down.

One of Toth’s daughters, 17-year-old Heather, was with him in the plane. But she managed to come away with just a few scrapes, even after pulling her father out of the water, Para said.

Heather Toth was treated at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg and was back at home Monday.

Para said something must have been mechanically wrong with the plane. Otherwise, her brother-in-law could have handled most any problem.

“He was an exceptional pilot,” she said.

Scott Albrite, who has known Ted Toth for about 30 years, even remembered Monday when his friend decided for sure that he wanted to be a pilot.

He had come back from a four-year Navy tour in which he worked on helicopters in Sicily.

“He died doing what he loved best,” Albrite said.

The woman he loved best, however, was still getting used to her husband’s passing Monday afternoon.

Bolstered by the support of family, she still sometimes had to put her head down on the kitchen island countertop when the conversation became too sad.
Her mother, meanwhile, recalled the nervous-kneed groom-to-be asking for her hand in marriage, then being astounded at having to wait six months to get married in a Catholic ceremony.

In the big picture, though, six months was nothing.

“I waited for her for 10 years,” Toth told his mother-in-law, Joann Para.

In addition to his wife, brother Tony and oldest daughter, Toth is also survived by his 13-year-old daughter, Amanda; his father, William Toth Sr. of Colonial Heights; his mother, Robin Starbird of Urbanna; a sister, Anne; and a half-brother, Billy.

Pierce Funeral Home in Manassas is handling the arrangements.

Staff writer Jonathan Hunley can be reached at 703-369-5738.