CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis.-- Hundreds of people gathered in western Wisconsin to remember a local woman who died in a charter plane crash in Costa Rica on New Year's Eve.
Amanda Geissler, 33, was one of 10 Americans killed in the Dec. 31 crash. Two Costa Rican pilots also died. She was working as a guide for the California-based adventure travel company Backroads.
A funeral was held for Geissler on Sunday followed by a memorial get-together at a local lodge in Chippewa Falls, where she had most recently lived, WEAU-TV reported. Geissler also was born there and graduated from high school in Thorp. She played basketball for the University of Wisconsin-Stout and later lived in St. Paul and Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Family and friends on Sunday remembered the outgoing nature of Geissler, who loved adventure and traveled the world. She once ran a marathon on the Great Wall of China.
Donations for the Amanda Geissler Memorial Fund are being accepted through Horan Funeral Home in Chippewa Falls. The family hopes to start a foundation in her honor.
Authorities are investigating whether strong winds or some sort of mechanical failure was responsible for the plane crash. The Nature Air charter took off from a private air strip and there was no communication between the pilot and a control tower.
