Updated: 11/4/2009 2:28:03 PM
A Blount County native, living in Mississippi and serving in the Tennessee Air National Guard, has been killed in an off-duty crash.
Mark Malone Atchley, 50 and formerly of Rockford, died Thursday in a plane crash in the Virgin Islands. Atchley's parents said he'd been working on Jimmy Buffet's boat as an electrician and got a call about another job, over in St. Croix.
When returning from that job, his plane crashed.
Atchley served with the Air National Guard 228th Combat Communication Squadron. He lived on a boat at Keesler Air Force Base in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
He served in the National Guard for 28 years.
Atchley was a 1977 graduate of Everett High School.
His family plans a memorial for Atchley on November 7 at 3:30 at Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Maryville. The family will receive friends from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
