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The General John Burrows Historical Society of Montoursville hosted a memorial service honoring the lives of those who lost their lives when TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Paris on July 17, 1996, Saturday afternoon.
The catastrophe claimed the lives of 230 aboard the Boeing 747, including 16 students and five chaperones from the Montoursville Area High School French Club.
"Today we come with heavy hearts as we remember the lives that were lost on July 17, 1996, and we honor the families and loved ones whose lives were forever changed," museum board member Julie Quick said.
"Three decades have passed, but the memories remain vivid, and the loss is still deeply felt," Quick, a Family and Consumer Science teacher at C.E. McCall Middle School said.
"For us, the Montoursville community, this tragedy is woven into our history. 21 talented, hopeful and beloved members of our community were among those who never returned home. Their absence has been felt in our schools, our neighborhoods, our churches and our hearts," she said.
But even in a time of immense tragedy, the community's fortitude showed through.
"Neighbors supported one another, strangers became friends and an entire nation demonstrated what it means to stand together in the face of unimaginable grief," Quick said.
"The spirit of kindness and resilience remains one of the lasting legacies of this tragedy," she added.
Montoursville senior Ruby Watts then recited a poem originally read by local historian, Don King, at the original memorial service in 1996 entitled "Remember Me."
"Remember me. To the living, I am gone. To the sorrowful, I will never return. To the angry, I was cheated, but to the happy, I am at peace, and to the faithful, I have never left. I cannot speak, but I can listen. I cannot be seen, but I can be heard. So, as you stand upon a shore, gazing at a beautiful sea, as you look upon a flower and admire its simplicity. Remember me," she read aloud.
"Remember me in your heart, your thoughts, and your memories of the times we loved, the times we cried, the times we fought, the times we laughed. For if you always think of me, I will never have gone," Watts concluded.
"We refer to these people as our kids. That's why the loss is so tragic to all of us. They were our kids as well as your kids," high school social studies teacher Rich DeLong said, reading from a speech given by longtime Montoursville Area High School teacher and local historian Don King at the first memorial service for the victims in 1996.
"One of the newer students to Montoursville told his mother, 'It's a terrible thing. It's a shame that it had to happen, but if it had to happen someplace, I'm glad we had moved to Montoursville when it happened,'" he read.
DeLong repeated King’s praise of support staff, secretaries, food service personnel and faculty for stepping up and being a support system for their students as well as each other.
"We have all been changed by this tragedy. One of the things that has changed is that we have been drawn together in hugs, and we have been drawn together in generations," DeLong, also a museum board member, read from King’s speech.
"To some people here, the major marker in their lives has been for Pearl Harbor. For me and many of the adults that I knew on that flight, it was the assassination of President Kennedy. For the youngsters on that flight, the marker in their lives was the Challenger disaster. We've been drawn together as a generation because today, to the day we die, we will think of TWA Flight 800," he read.
"We crossed a new frontier of community grief," DeLong read, with King’s speech adding that "word thoughts and love" were sent via the fledgling internet.
But in facing grief, King stressed the importance of healing, which he said must begin from within.
"You can't be so afraid of dying that you will never learn to live. We cannot put our heads in the sand. We must continue to live," King’s speech said, echoing the words of John Dorin, who was Mayor of Montoursville at the time of the tragedy.
"As I looked at the ages in the program, the oldest person on the plane was young," DeLong read.
"Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master," King’s speech said, quoting Leonardo da Vinci.
"That is exactly what those people on the plane were attempting to do, and that is what we as teachers should attempt to urge our students to do. It is to surpass all of us," DeLong read.
Though the heartache of loss is real, it creates an opportunity for growth, King’s speech noted that a spell check suggestion for the word "bitter" is "better."
"We cannot allow life's terrible things to make us bitter. We must allow it somehow to make us better," DeLong read.
'I saw parents who had lost children seeking out to help others. I can see students sitting in their seats. I can hear Deb speaking French to her students. I can see Judy smiling. I can see Carol standing there at the tennis courts watching tennis matches with me," he read from King’s speech.
"I can see all these people, and it is great to play back that little video in my mind, but I think I can see them much more clearly if I follow what I call the 'four Ls:' living, learning, laughing, and loving," he read.
"The 'four Ls' is doing what they were doing, and they should be a backdrop to all of our lesson plans," King’s speech stressed.
Following the reading of King’s speech, high school sophomore Emerson Metzger read the names of the 21 Montoursville victims of the crash.
"As each name is read, we invite you not only to remember how they died, but how they lived, their dreams, their talents, their kindness and the countless lives they touched," DeLong said.
Those named included students: Jessica Aikey, Daniel Baszczewski, Michelle Bohlin, Jordan Bower, Monica Cox, Claire Gallagher, Julia Grimm, Rance Hettler, Amanda Karschner, Jody Loudenslager, Cheryl Nibert, Kimberly Rogers, Larissa Uzupis, Jacqueline Watson, Monica Weaver and Wendy Wolfson; and chaperons: Deborah Dickey, Douglas Dickey, Carol Fry, Judith Rupert and Eleanor Wolfson.
"May we leave here today carrying forward their memories with gratitude, their stories with pride and their legacy with hope," Quick said.
"Though 30 years have passed, they remain forever a part of Montoursville. May we continue to remember them, honor them and never forget," she said.
For Quick, the memories are as fresh as ever.
"As a student, it was overwhelming for that type of tragedy and emotions, but now as an adult here at the museum and working in the school district, I feel blessed and honored that I'm still involved and I'm able to keep their memory alive," Quick told the Sun-Gazette.
As an educator herself, passing on the history of TWA Flight 800 to the younger generations is paramount.
"We had three students today helping with our ceremony. It's a way that we can continue remembering those lives lost on TWA Flight 800," she said.
"We also bring every third grader in the Montoursville Area School District through our museum, so it's something that we teach our students, to remember and to know their names," Quick said.
In addition to the memorial service, the public was invited into an exhibit dedicated to the crash, filled with memorabilia and news coverage of the disaster.