Andrew Broders, a Washington state man who worked in Cordova as a fisherman, died in a Feb. 4 plane crash along with pilot Christopher Maize. Nick Carr, Broders’s cousin, submitted the following letter.
Andy has been traveling to Cordova to fish since he was 4 years old. He comes from a family of fishermen, his father, his uncle, and several of his cousins all have owned and operated boats in multiple West Coast fisheries. Andy began following his father, Ray Broders, to Cordova for the fishing season since the age of 4. Andy was an adventurous soul and never backing down from an adventure or a challenge. Following in the footsteps of our grandfather, who joined the Navy as a machinist’s mate following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Andy joined the Navy immediately out of high school in 2003 and served as a machinist’s mate on our nation’s submarines. After his year enlistment and marrying his wife Jes, Andy moved back home to his ancestral home of Discovery Bay, Washington. After coming home, Andy fished the Copper River Salmon Season, the Puget Sound Dungeness Season, and started an oyster aquaculture business. He purchased a gold claim near Dan Creek, Alaska three summers ago and would travel there once or twice a year to pan for gold, not so much for the shiny rocks themselves, but for the adventure and story in the finding of shiny rocks. He was extremely excited to pan gold this year, to brave the elements alone with his waxed canvas tent. He was on his way to that claim when the Cessna 185 he was riding in appears to have broken apart mid-air.
Andy was kind, honest, and helpful. In my 35 years on this earth with him, I never heard him once say a mean or negative thing to anyone. If he thought that someone needed help, he would offer it. He was a jolly, cheerful soul, always quick with a laugh and smile.
He will be greatly missed by his friends and family, but most of all by his wife Jes and his father Ray.
Respectfully,
Nick Carr
Newport, Rhode Island
