While a 16-year-old boy continued to recover from injuries in a Michigan hospital, hundreds packed a north-side church Wednesday to pay respects to his father and stepmother.

A memorial service for Dr. Stephen Hatch and his wife, Kimberly Hatch, at Blackhawk Ministries drew enough people to nearly fill both the church’s and the school’s parking lots across the street.

Many of those in attendance wore black. Some who left the 2 1/2 -hour service walked away in tears.

Stephen Hatch, 46, was flying his single-engine plane and approaching Charlevoix (Mich.) Municipal Airport when the plane crashed, killing him and his wife and critically injuring his son, Austin Hatch, a University of Michigan basketball recruit.

Investigators said in a preliminary report that Hatch was attempting an instrument approach to the airport at the time of the crash. The report did not list a cause of the crash.

Hatch, an anesthesiologist and partner in Pain Management Associates, was also piloting a similar plane in 2003 that crashed, killing his then-wife and two children. Austin Hatch also survived that crash.

Kim Hatch, 44, is survived by four children.

A column by Gina Zimmerman published in The Journal Gazette on Monday called Kim Hatch an “honest and committed friend and spiritual mentor.” The column also said that she recently visited survivors of the tornado that ripped through Joplin, Mo.

Austin Hatch, who attends Canterbury High School, suffered head trauma and was brought to a Michigan hospital in critical condition. Doctors put him in a medically induced coma, and recently the process was begun to bring him out of the coma.

According to the most recent entry in his journal on the website www.caringbridge.com, Austin Hatch continues to do well with treatment.

“We are encouraged by Austin’s response to the excellent medical care he is receiving, a testament to his prior athletic training regimen,” a journal entry on Saturday said.

jeffwiehe@jg.net