Sunday Speaker Series Online: The Story of the 1970 San Juan Plane Crash

On Oct. 23, 1970, Frank B. Alexander crashed a small plane into the Shrine of San Juan Roman Catholic Church, now site of the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle. This incident is the subject for the next Sunday Speaker Series Online presentation, a Museum of South Texas History program. Associate Education officer Joseph Fox will present “The Story of the 1970 San Juan Plane Crash” on Facebook Live.

The plane crash into the church in which an estimated 230 priests, nuns and schoolchildren escaped unharmed. In the end, there was roughly $1.5 million in building damages. Fox conducted his research with newspaper publications and several oral histories.

Fox earned a master’s degree in history from Texas State University in San Marcos where he completed a thesis on Lone Star beer and the 1970s Austin music scene. He has written articles for the Handbook of Tejano History, book reviews for Texas Books in Review, a historical marker for the Texas Historical Commission, and is currently conducting further research on Lone Star beer to expand his master’s thesis into a book.

The presentation will be streamed at facebook.com/MOSTHistory/live. Guests are encouraged to interact with the presenter by posting questions and comments on the live chat. The video will also be recorded and posted for public access on the Museum’s website at www.mosthistory.org.

This program is made possible by the generous support from the Carmen C. Guerra Endowment. Mrs. Guerra was committed to educational causes in the Rio Grande Valley. This named endowment was created by her family to honor her memory and to continue providing educational opportunities for the community.