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Popular Rutgers computer manager recovering after balloon accident
A hot-air balloon accident nearly two weeks ago in New Mexico shocked and saddened people at Rutgers who know the recovering pilot as a devoted coworker and close friend.
Shortly after dawn on Friday, October 10, Rutgers unit computing manager Keith Sproul was piloting his custom-designed balloon in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta when an unexpected gust of wind blew it into power lines. Sproul and his copilot, Stephen Lachendro of Butler, Pennsylvania, fell 65 feet from their burning gondola, killing Lachendro and leaving Sproul with multiple fractures, internal injuries, and minor burns.
As Keith faces multiple surgeries at the University of New Mexico Hospitals, one of his Rutgers colleagues is keeping an especially close vigil from Piscataway – his twin brother, Mark. The brothers’ parents, along with Keith’s wife, Debbie, remain at Keith’s side in Albuquerque.
The identical twins hold nearly identical jobs as computing managers: Keith supporting the School of Arts and Sciences, and Mark supporting the School of Engineering. But the similarities do not end there. Native Iowans, the brothers moved to New Jersey in high school and later attended Rutgers. In 1982, Keith earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and Mark in computer engineering.
A year earlier, they married identical twin sisters and Rutgers alumnae. Keith married Debbie Vargo and Mark married Carol Vargo in a twin ceremony at the university’s Kirkpatrick Chapel a month after the Keyport, New Jersey, women graduated. The spring 2008 issue of Rutgers Magazine profiled the couples in a story on vows exchanged on campus.
Even more coincidental, the brothers and sisters are one day away from sharing the same 1959 birthdates. Keith and Mark were born on January 7, and Debbie and Carol on January 8.
Mark agrees that his and his brother’s twin spouses have made their already close relationship even tighter. “We do a lot of things together,” Mark said, but he conceded that ballooning is not one of them.
“I serve as a helper sometimes, but I’m not into it like he is,” Mark said, reflecting on his brother’s 10-year devotion to the sport. “Keith does it for the sheer joy of flying,” he said. “He is very good – he has a worldwide reputation. He went ballooning in Switzerland last year.”
The New Mexico event, according to Mark, is the world’s premier balloon festival, drawing 900 balloons. Debbie – herself a pilot – was there with Keith, serving on the chase team of another balloon when the accident happened. The balloon Keith and Stephen were flying was Keith’s 2004 creation, “Wings of Wind,” an inverted pyramid with red, brown, and yellow markings reminiscent of 2000-year-old Inca pottery designs.
Keith’s job includes support for the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences three days a week. Department Chair Ken Miller said that Keith is a very cheerful guy who always has a smile on his face.
“He’s taken several people in the department up in balloons,” Miller said. “And he was the first person to take a balloon into Meteor Crater in Arizona. Obviously, the geologists I work with would like to go into Meteor Crater with him.” The two had informal discussions about doing such a flight later in the academic year, Miller said.
Tom Vosseler, director of the information technology office for the School of Arts and Sciences, said that Keith also supports the Department of Statistics, a few groups at Lucy Stone Hall, and wireless networking on the New Brunswick Campus. Keith is also the department’s most knowledgeable Macintosh person, Vosseler said. “He’ll basically do anything you ask him to do with a smile – he always has a positive attitude.”
Another way Keith goes above and beyond, said Vosseler, is with his interest in Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems. He has brought his GPS equipment into geology classes and taught students how to use it for fieldwork.
While Keith faces weeks of hospitalization, his family feels upbeat about his progress toward recovery. Several surgeries have repaired the most critical injuries, and he is responsive and breathing with moderate assistance.
A week ago, Debbie set up a page on the CarePages website to keep family, friends, colleagues, and fellow hobbyists posted about Keith’s progress. In its first three days, almost a hundred well-wishers had left messages there for the family.
Contributions toward the family’s expenses may be made at any Wells Fargo Bank branch to an account under the name of Debbie Sproul. Cards may be sent to: Debbie Sproul, c/o Garry Haruska, 7305 Montano Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87114.