(Photo provided by Beth Bates) A balloon launch was held in 2015 for the 90th anniversary of the airship USS Shenandoah crash in Noble County that took the lives of 14 of the 43 people on board. A commemorative service will be held 2 p.m. Aug. 31 at the USS Shenandoah Memorial on Ohio 821 for the 100th anniversary of the event.

CALDWELL — A service marking the 100 years since the crash of the airship USS Shenandoah in Noble County will be held at 2 p.m. Aug. 31.

The ceremony will be held at the USS Shenandoah Memorial on Ohio 821 in Ava, the site of the crash that made headlines around the country.

“This was the first airship that the United States ever had,” Theresa Rayner, event organizer and owner of a mobile museum about the Shenandoah, said. “It was the first to use helium, the first to moor to a floating vessel, and just the first rigid airship that the United States had.

“Someone asked us on the 75th anniversary, ‘Why does anybody still care?’ And our answer to them then and would be now, is we feel that these crewmen were pioneers in lighter-than-air flights, and they deserve to be recognized and remembered for the contributions they have made to aviation,” she said.

The crash happened near Ava in northern Noble County resulting in the deaths of 14 of the 43 people on board, including its captain, Lt. Cdr. Zachary Lansdowne.

(Photo provided by Beth Bates) Judi Tarowsky, a professional storyteller, presented an historic narrative about the USS Shenandoah crash during the 90th anniversary of the event in 2015. Tarowsky will present another narrative at a commemorative service at 2 p.m. Aug. 31 to mark the 100th anniversary.

“We will have some of the Lansdowne family in attendance,” Rayner said, emphasizing the importance of recognizing the families of those involved in the tragedy. “We will recognize all of those crew members’ families.”

Rayner with her husband, Bryan Rayner, who passed away in 2013, said they created a mobile museum dedicated to the crash based on the connection that began with her husband’s grandfather, who owned the land where two of the Shenandoah crash sites are located.

“(He) owned the sites here at Ava, not at the time of the crash, but in later years, he owned the land where crash site one and crash site two are located,” Rayner said. “When people would come to Ava, a lot of times, they would stop at his garage to find out where the crash sites were. And Brian started following his grandfather around. So that’s where his interest started.”

She said as the pair collected artifacts and newspaper clippings over the years they became friends with Lansdowne’s daughter, Peggy Lansdowne Hunt.

“She was only 3 when her father was killed in this crash,” Rayner said. “So once we met her and some of her children, then that put a totally different twist on this historical event, because these were people whose lives were totally changed because of something that happened.”

(Photo provided by Beth Bates) Members of the Noble County color guard participated in the 90th anniversary of the USS Shenandoah crash even in 2015. A centennial commemorative service will be held 2 p.m. Aug. 31.

She said by honoring the Lansdowne family and other descendants, they hope to keep the memory of the Shenandoah and its crew alive for future generations.

“We want that to be our goal,” Rainer said, “to let them know that we’ve appreciated the sacrifice that their family members made in the name of aviation.”

The event is free to attend and visitors are welcome to bring lawn chairs for seating. Restrooms and air-conditioned space will be available at the Ava United Methodist Church.

Activities will include a performance by the Shenandoah High School band, a county commissioner speaking about the renaming of a section of Interstate 77 to the USS Shenandoah Memorial Highway, a wreath laying ceremony with a gun salute, book signings and opportunities to meet authors Jerry Copas (“The Wreck of the USS Shenandoah”) and Aaron Keirns (“America’s Airship Disaster”) and an historic narrative about the Shenandoah by story-teller Judi Tarowsky.

“Some of the descendants of the captain requested that she come back,” Rayner said.

(Photo provided by Beth Bates) The 90th anniversary celebration of the crash of the USS Shenandoah in Noble county included the Shenandoah High School marching band. A commemorative service marking the 100th anniversary will be held 2 p.m. Aug. 31.

“Some of the band students and hopefully some of the crowds that we get, you know, it could be a whole group of people that have never heard her do her rendition of what happened that day,” Rayner said.