GARDINER — Jim Murphy hasn’t lived in this small Jefferson County community very long, but he and his twin brother, Joe, of Bremerton have made lasting impressions on the people they’ve met.
The brothers are among five people aboard a floatplane that has been missing since Monday while on a flight between Sitka and a fishing camp in the small community of Baranof Warm Springs, southeast Alaska.
“He’s worth more than his weight in gold,” said Beth Lehren, who lives next door to Jim Murphy and his wife, Barb, on Garden Beach Road.
“Jim and Bonnie are the best neighbors we’ve had anywhere.”
Lehern described Bonnie Murphy as being in good spirits “thinking that they’re walking out of the woods with a great story.”
Initial reports out of Alaska on Wednesday said Murphy was a resident of Sequim, but his neighbors said on Thursday that he and his wife have lived in Gardiner for about a year.
The Coast Guard, Civil Air Patrol, private pilots and private boats have been unsuccessful in finding the missing aircraft or its occupants.
The search, according to Coast Guard officials, covers 2,000 miles of shoreline and waters in southeast Alaska.
A ground search party is looking in 100 square miles of uninhabited forestland in the area.
The biggest problem facing searchers, according to Paul Webb, a civilian search and rescue specialist working with the Coast Guard, is the weather.
Early Thursday evening, Webb reported that search aircraft were limited by ceilings that were no more than 1,000 feet high. Winds in the search area range from 30 to 40 mph, he said.