Jack Kightlinger, a retired White House photographer who worked for five U.S. presidents, was killed along with his wife following a fiery wreck, his son-in-law said Wednesday. He was 77.
Jack and his wife, Adele, were in a collision Monday in their hometown of Flat Rock in southwest North Carolina when a truck crossed the center line, authorities said. Jack died at the scene, his son-in-law Brad Fellrath said. Adele, also 77, died a day later at the hospital.
Kightlinger took behind-the-scenes photos of presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald Reagan over a 19 year span ending in 1985. The images included a young Amy Carter sprinting across the White House lawn to a waiting helicopter, Richard Nixon bowling and dozens of state dinners.
"I think about what these guys go through. I've been in those situations in the Oval Office where those tough decisions have to be made and that's when you see what the guy is made of," Kightlinger said in a 2005 interview with The Times-News of Hendersonville.
Kightlinger serving in the Army Signal Corps and supervised 200 photographers at a military photography lab in California in 1967 when he received a telegram directing him to go to Washington for a possible assignment, he said. He'd been chosen to compete with photographers from each branch of the military for a spot on the White House photography staff. He got the job after seven days of interviews and two polygraph tests, he said.
Kightlinger said he was especially proud of a Reagan photo that was used as the basis for a postage stamp of the former president released in 2005.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
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Information from: Times-News, http://www.hendersonvillenews.com
Copyright 2009 AP News
