Family and friends mourn the loss of Northeast Philly plane crash victim Dominique Goods Burke

During a funeral service on Thursday, friends and family remembered Dominique Goods Burke as a “feisty” and devoted mother with an “outgoing and unpredictable spirit” and a radiant smile.

Her family’s longtime pastor, the Rev. John Coger, posed a question that has weighed heavily on loved ones, friends, and residents citywide since the Northeast Philadelphia plane crash in which Goods Burke sustained the severe burns and internal injuries from which she recently died:

“How does an airplane fall out of the sky and affect a member of our family, of our community?" Coger said to mourners gathered inside Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in Southwest Center City. “Without warning, our lives have been turned upside down. It does not seem right. It does not seem fair.”

Coger described Goods Burke as “a gift,” adding that “bad things do happen to good people,” but that it “doesn’t mean God has failed us.”

Goods Burke, whom family affectionately called “Pooda,” died on April 27 after spending nearly three months at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She was 34.

Goods Burke was on a family outing to the Roosevelt Mall on Jan. 31 when a medical jet crashed on Cottman Avenue and flames engulfed the car she was riding in.

She was driving with her fiance, 37-year-old Steven Dreuitt Jr., who died at the scene. Dreuitt’s 9-year-old son, Ramesses Raziel Dreuitt Vazquez, escaped the car with serious burns. The boy remains in a burn unit for children at a Boston hospital.

“Dominique was a fierce woman of confidence, warmth, and creativity,” her family wrote in a program passed out to more than 250 mourners.

“Dominique was feisty yet welcoming, bold and daring. She was hardworking and resilient,” it noted.

Steven Dreuitt’s mother, Alberta Brown, wore her son’s high school class ring around her neck at his fiancee’s funeral.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson, and other city officials arrived early to pay their respects, as friends and family streamed into the church on South Broad Street, near Fitzwater Street, for a private service.

Inside, in front of the dais, sat a white coffin, adorned with white roses, carnations, and baby’s breath. A pair of angel wings, fashioned from white feathers, rose above it on the stage. A rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” played as the mourners slid into pews.

Goods Burke is the eighth fatality from the crash, and the second from Philadelphia. All six people aboard the plane, including an 11-year-old girl, died. The cremated remains of the six victims — all Mexican nationals — were returned to loved ones in Mexico City last month. The girl was on her way home after undergoing treatment for a spinal condition at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia.

At least 24 people on the ground were injured and more than a dozen houses were damaged when the plane exploded in a giant fireball, sending flames and debris into neighboring homes.

Goods Burke and Dreuitt were high school sweethearts. She attended Philadelphia High School for Girls in the city’s Logan neighborhood; Dreuitt, of Mount Airy, graduated from Murrell Dobbins High School.

Both worked in the culinary industry. Goods Burke worked as a day bake supervisor at High Point Cafe in West Mount Airy for more than a decade. Dreuitt, whom friends called “Stoogs,” was a kitchen manager and team leader at Philadelphia Catering Co.

The couple shared a teenage son, Dominick Goods, a sophomore at Imhotep Institute Charter High School.

Dominick’s high school football teammates also attended, wearing their red Panthers uniforms. Dominick is a team standout and his father often boasted about his games.

The teen, who lost both his parents in the plane crash, sat up front. He wore all white and kept his head bowed through much of the service.

He was on a school trip to Africa when his mother died. It was his father’s wish that his son go on the Ghana trip for outstanding students in Imhotep‘s STEM program.

Goods Burke also had a 7-year-old daughter, Denim A. Hodges, who often spent time at High Point Cafe, watching her mother create sweet and creamy pastries.

The girl wrote a note to her mother in the service‘s program: “Mommy I love you, and even though you passed away I will love you forever.”

Goods Burke loved Dreuitt’s younger son, Ramesses, as her own. She loved spoiling her children and taking them on trips to the beach, on cruises, and to other countries.

“She showed them the world’s beauty, passing on her love of travel and food,” the service‘s program read.

Early in the service, Parker announced the creation of a student internship in Goods Burke’s name to continue her legacy as an impactful community leader and lover of culinary arts.

Her family members honored her in song, rather than words, during the service. Her sister, Deja Scott, sang “Till We Meet Again” by Kirk Franklin; her cousin Tanisha Brockton sang “When I See Jesus” by Douglas Miller.

Both renditions evoked tears and joyful shouts from mourners.

Lovetta Hill, 38, a fellow graduate of Philadelphia High School for Girls, where Goods Burke received her diploma in 2009 as a member of Class 253, spoke briefly about her friend.

“As you know, Girls’ High girls are sisters, and Dominique will forever — ever — exist in my heart," Hill said, recalling Goods Burke as “sweet, kind, and always stayed connected.”

Brittany Singleton, 32, a close childhood friend who regarded Goods Burke as a “cousin,” recalled her lifelong enthusiasm for all things Winnie-the-Pooh.

As a kid, Singleton said, she loved spending time at Goods Burke’s home on 12th Street in South Philadelphia.

“That’s one thing I admired about her family — they were so close-knit," Singleton said.

“Pooda was very warm. She was just a lovely person. She just loved to do for her kids. A wonderful mom. She would do anything for her children.”

“She was beautiful,” Singleton said.