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"The spirit of kindness and resiliance remains one of the lasting legacies of this tragedy," Julie Quick, a member of the General John Burrowes Historical Society of Montoursville recently told the audience of a memorial service.
The service, reported on in Monday's edition, marked the 30th anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800 -- a tragedy that claimed the lives of 16 Montoursville Area High School students and five chaperones.
We are thankful that the historical society put in the hard work to organize this service -- the occasion is an important one to remember and to grieve.
We believe it is important to note that the community of Montoursville still grieves this staggering loss. A tragedy of these dimensions is unimaginable -- losing one child is a painful nightmare. A small town losing 16 teenagers, who departed our region with the excitement and joy of young people about to see the world, is such an enormous loss. While the speaker at the service is, in our estimation, right that the kindness and resiliance of Montoursville and its surrounding country and villages was a blessing that helped the region survive this grief, it is still hard to comprehend the desolation and agony that accompany that ongoing process.
We hope that the hard work of the historical society to solemnly remember this occasion is appreciated and, more importantly, we hope it can be another step forward through the agony and grief, toward better moments and better days. And we hope the ways in which this community rallied to each other's support in that most trying time can serve as an example when other communities in our region are confronted with pain and desolation.