Godfrey Brothers Tell their Story

            Years ago, people who suffered traumatic events were encouraged to bury it from their memories.

            According to J.W. “Terry” Freiberg, a psychiatric doctor, as well as plane crash survivors Mark Godfrey, 61, and Andy Godfrey, 58, modern psychology says burying these memories only contributes to post-traumatic stress disorder.

            “It’s like a volcano wanting to come out,” Mark Godfrey says of it.

            So the Godfrey brothers, after avoiding memories of a tragic plane crash on March 1, 1974, helped turn the event into the award-winning documentary, “Three Days Two Nights.”

            The Godfrey family has had a summer home in Marion for more than 100 years. On July 27, the two brothers brought the film to Tabor Academy’s Lyndon South Auditorium, where a capacity crowd watched it and gave it a standing ovation. Before and after the film, the Godfrey brothers and Freiberg discussed the film, written and produced by family friend John Breen.

            Their story goes back to a Godfrey family with five kids on their way from Houston, Texas, to Aspen, Colorado, for an annual ski vacation. The youngest child, Paula, only one at the time, stayed with her grandparents.

            The pilot of the private plane decided against a fuel run to avoid a blizzard. The plane crashed along Williams Peak, killing the pilot, as well as William and Dineen Godfrey, and their two oldest children, William Jr. and Ellen.

            Mark, then 11, and Andy, 8, survived after three days and two nights stranded in the mountain cold. Mark later lost both his legs after seats from the plane crushed them.

            Andy awoke to the sounds of what he thought was a wild animal. He later learned it was the death groan of his mother.

            His mother, Dineen, was still able to communicate some survival tips. Andy stayed close to Mark to keep him warm, rummaged through the plane for scraps of food and even drank alcohol to stay hydrated.

            The two were saved by a rescue crew — three days and two nights later. After that, they were adopted by their aunt and uncle, Marianne and John Schuhmacher. The brothers and their younger sister Paula blended in with the Schuhmachers, who loved the children and tried to give them a good childhood after the tragedy.

            But the brothers for decades never talked about the event. Classmates and family members were also warned never to bring it up. Paula, who never got to know her biological parents and oldest siblings, also was told not talk about it.

            The film does the opposite. In it, the brothers talk to each other about the accident for the first time in decades. They even visited the site of the crash with their sister Paula.

            At one point in the film, they even visit Danny Schaefer, then nine-years old and skiing with his family. Schaefer, now a pilot and a lifelong plane enthusiast, saw the plane on a ski lift and then saw smoke in the distance. He warned his dad of his theory that the plane crashed. No one believed the boy at first.

            In a tearful exchange, the Godfrey brothers in the film visit Schaefer, show pictures of their children and thank Schaefer, saying these kids would not be alive if it weren’t for him.

            In the film, Mark Godfrey chronicles the self-pity he felt because he could not ski and play sports again — after playing football and developing into a good athlete before the accident.

            That self-pity later translated into determination. Mark Godfrey’s uncle was U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker, who would introduce the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1988. That would pave the way for Godfrey to compete as a skier once again. He won a championship for the U.S. Disabled Ski Team.

            In sum, the brothers throughout the film confront every aspect of the tragedy, including how their parents and older siblings were loving and joyful people.

            Confronting all aspects of this tragedy represents a “paradigm shift” in modern psychology, according to Freiberg at the Tabor-hosted event.

            “It’s not just the story of their lives but a strategy for dealing with trauma,” Freiberg said, adding that it is important to get in “touch with what has been packed away and hidden beneath the surface.”

            In fact, the Godfrey brothers on some level had already begun to confront this tragedy. Mark Godfrey secretly held on to artifacts from the event.

            “We were using therapeutic techniques without even knowing it,” Andy Godfrey said.

            In 2012, Andy Godfrey wrote an article for The Aspen Times about his memories of the event. That article led to both brothers talking to each other about the event, from what they remember after the plane crashed to their hospital stay.

            “My family was taken away in a split second,” Andy Godfrey said.

            After Thursday’s movie screening at Tabor, the Godfrey brothers and Freiberg answered questions ranging from how they managed to live normal lives with loving spouses to what their older siblings were like.

            Being adopted by loving family members in Colorado helped the brothers get through it.

            Freiberg credited the Godfreys for being part of the paradigm shift in modern psychology as one reason behind their success.

            “Trauma is trauma. You have to deal with it or it will manifest itself in its own bad behaviors,” Mark Godfrey said.

            The movie is currently streaming on Tubi and other platforms.

By Jeffrey D. Wagner