SO SAD. Record-Setting Young Pilot Dies at 26.

Vicki Van Meter, celebrated for piloting a plane across the country at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. She was 26.

Van Meter died Saturday and her body was found in her Meadville home on Sunday.

Her brother said she battled depression and opposed medication, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.

"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. "This really is a shock, because we didn't see the signs."

So much we have yet to learn about people dealing with their inner demons.

There's food for thought here, too.

Later she earned a degree in criminal justice from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and spent two years with the Peace Corps in Cahul, Moldova. She recently worked as an investigative agent for an insurance company.

"She led a full and interesting life. ... She had more guts than any of us could ever
imagine," said her mother, Corinne Van Meter, 57.

Corinne Van Meter said her daughter had recently begun applying to graduate schools and wanted to study psychology.

Our condolences to the family.