Telegraph photo by ADAM URQUHART Members of the Hudson community participate in a Thursday candlelight vigil to honor the memory of 2013 Alvirne High School graduate Katie Thyne, who died in the line of duty last week while working as a police officer in Virginia. The community is also dealing with this week’s loss of Air Force Capt. Ryan Phaneuf, who died Monday in airplane crash in Afghanistan.

HUDSON – In Concord on Thursday, members of the New Hampshire Senate observed a moment of silence in honor of Air Force Capt. Ryan Phaneuf, 30, of Hudson, who was one of two officers killed in a crash Monday of an electronic surveillance plane in Afghanistan.

This took place less than one week after Katie Thyne, another Hudson native, died in the line of duty while working with the Newport News Police Department in Virginia on Jan. 23.

“It’s very hard to deal with these types of deaths of our young people that are serving us and protecting us in a variety of different ways,” said state Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, whose district includes Hudson.

The Pentagon on Wednesday said Phaneuf was one of two Air Force officers killed in the Monday crash. The wreck is under investigation, but officials have said there’s no indication the plane was downed by hostile action.

Phaneuf was assigned to the 37th Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota. He graduated in 2007 from Alvirne High School, where he was a member of the junior ROTC program.

Phaneuf’s dream was to become an Air Force pilot, as he put it in writing in his high school yearbook. He rose to the rank of captain, receiving awards and decorations, including the Air Force Commendation Medal.

The town and school are still grieving the death of 2013 graduate Thyne, a Navy veteran and police officer who died in the line of duty in Virginia on Jan. 23. She was dragged by a vehicle during a traffic stop that accelerated and slammed into a tree. She died from her injuries.

Thyne was also a member of the junior ROTC program at Alvirne.

“To lose somebody, two students within a week’s time, it’s very tough on the community,” Hudson School District Superintendent Larry Russell said.

Thursday evening at Alvirne High School, the Hudson community honored Thyne with a candlelight vigil.

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