Dad Found One Last Video of Wife and Daughter Taking Off Before D.C. Plane Crash: ‘Always in Our Hearts’ (Exclusive)

• The husband and father of two victims killed in the Washington, D.C. plane crash is remembering the pair as loving and talented ladies
• Andrey Ter, an Armenian refugee who fled from Azerbaijan in the 1980s, tells PEOPLE his wife Olesya text messaged him one minute before the plane she was on crashed
• His daughter Olivia had her sights set on being an Olympic figure skater, and was quickly gaining traction in the sport

A man is fondly remembering his wife and daughter who were killed in the Washington, D.C. plane crash while he waited at the airport.

Andrey Ter tells PEOPLE his wife Olesya Taylor, 50, and youngest daughter Olivia Ter, 12, were among the 67 people killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

The father of two is an Armenian refugee, having fled Azerbaijan to Ukraine in the 1980s when he was 16 years old. “It left a scar on my heart,” he says.

For 20 years, Andrey had nightmares about his experience as a refugee. Now, the 51-year-old has “a new nightmare” to deal with: “My family is gone.”

Andrey and Olesya met at work in the early 2000s and married in April 2007. They shared two daughters together, Olivia, who was killed in the plane crash, and 14-year-old Anne Valerie, who goes by the nickname A.V.

Olesya was born in Ukraine and attended medical school in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was a pediatrician but was working as a medical assistant in Falls Church while she studied to get certified to practice medicine in the U.S., according to Andrey.

Andrey says his late wife “was a very beautiful woman.” He also described her as “a really kind and generous person” to others. “I was an extremely lucky person to have somebody special like her in my life,” Andrey tells PEOPLE.

Olesya was very supportive of both daughters, who participated in a variety of activities. “She took every minute of her time to make sure they have [a] chance to explore these opportunities while she could give those to them,” Andrey notes.

Meanwhile, Olivia was very “driven” and “goal-oriented,” as well as “very athletic,” Andrey says. “If she set something for herself, she will do anything to get to that goal,” he recalls.

Olivia had her sights set on the Olympics, according to her dad. She recently placed fourth among her age group in the Eastern Division of U.S. figure skating after being ranked 30th at the same time the year prior.

“She would have this whole plan in her head [of] what she needs to do and when the next Olympiad is going to be that she can qualify for,” Andrey explains. “That’s the thing that she dreamt of.”

Ilia Kulik, Olivia’s Russian coach who won a gold Olympic medal in 1997, told Olivia’s parents that she would “definitely be able to compete” on a national level within the next couple of years.

“We lost a very talented ice skater, maybe a future champion,” Andrey tells PEOPLE. He adds, “She was a really good ice skater with a very bright potential. And she really wanted to be, and that’s all she wanted to do.”

Olivia was also an animal lover. “She would pick them up and try to carry them babies,” he recalls, adding that his daughter “loved everything that moved -— all of it.”

Olesya and Olivia went to the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum before boarding a plane in the same city to head home. That’s where Olesya and Andrey had their last conversation.

“My wife [was] talking with me about them being in [the] museum and Olivia being excited,” Andrey tells PEOPLE. He says there is a picture of Olivia holding a piece of paper that she used a typewriter to print on.

Andrey has one last video of his wife and daughter taking off from the airport, which he recovered by backing up his wife’s phone to the cloud.

Andrey was already inside the airport garage when the crash occurred. The airport is 15 minutes from where Andrey and his family live in Alexandria, Va.

“We drive by that airport daily,” he says, noting that sometimes the family would go to Gravelly Point Park and just watch the planes taking off and landing.

At 8:47 p.m. local time, Andrey received one last message from his wife as their plane attempted to land at Reagan saying, “We are landing.”

The plane crashed one minute later at 8:48 p.m., but Andrey did not witness the incident. He tried calling his wife and daughter multiple times after their plane was supposed to land, but they did not respond.

He then called his 14-year-old daughter A.V. and asked if her mother and sister had called. She said no, but relayed that she got a text message from her mother asking if she was going to pick them up.

A short time later, Andrey saw emergency vehicles pass by “with sirens” on. Soon, he saw headlines stating a small plane crash had occurred at the airport.

So Andrey went inside the airport, hoping to gather more information, but no one was at the desk to help him. He says the airport was in “disarray,” and that no one had answers.

Turning back to the news, Andrey quickly realized that the plane involved in the crash was the one his family was on. Initially, he was in denial and reminded himself that his wife and daughter are strong swimmers.

“Yes, it’s cold. Yes, it’s dark. It’s shallow water,” he says. He told himself they probably got out and swam. “It’s only 8 feet of water – and now it’s cold, but it’s close to the airport. They could have easily swam.”

His 14-year-old reassured him with similar logic. “She was saying, ‘Dad, don’t worry. You know how well mom and Olivia swim. They’re probably just sitting on the bank on the river.’ ”

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Eventually, Andrey received a call from the police that confirmed his fears: his wife and daughter had died. “At that point … you are in shock,” Andrey tells PEOPLE, adding, “Your wife is gone, and you don’t even want to think about what happened to your daughter.”

His eldest daughter later told him, “It’s done. And there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Andrey doesn’t follow the investigation and doesn’t watch the news. “I’m tired of hearing about it,” he says.

Andrey says he “was probably the happiest man on Earth” until the tragic crash killed his wife and daughter. “I had everything that I needed, everything that I wanted. And God took two of the dearest things I had away from me,” he tells PEOPLE. “Half of me is gone, and it’s no longer there.”

He then wondered, “Why me, God? Are you punishing me? And then I realized it’s 67 – God is punishing more than me.”

Andrey wishes he “could have done more” for Olesya and Olivia. “All we can do is make sure that they’re remembered,” he says. “They’re always in our hearts.”

A GoFundMe established in memory of Olivia and Olesya has raised over $60,000 of its $100,000 goal as of the time of publication.