Times Union, Albany, USA
Section: MAIN
Page: A14
THURSDAY, January 19, 198915,000 MOURN STUDENTS KILLED IN JET BOMBING
By William Kates Associated Press
The time has come to move ahead and "recommit ourselves to life," the families and friends of 35 students killed in the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 were told during a memorial service Wednesday.
An estimated 15,000 people gathered inside Syracuse University's Carrier Dome to hear that message delivered by a host of speakers, including Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.
The hourlong interfaith service also was viewed by thousands more who watched live broadcasts on Syracuse's three television stations and the national Cable News Network.
While speakers talked about anger and pain, faith and understanding, the principal focus was on keeping alive memories and carrying on with life.
"We assemble to share with one another, to support one another and to recommit ourselves to life with one another," said Richard L. Phillips, dean of the university's Hendricks Chapel, who delivered the invocation.
"As the curtain which descended upon our spirits with the crash begins to rise, may it reveal to each of us a clearer picture of life, a picture in which the sacredness of life and the sanctity of everyday living are in sharp focus," Phillips said.
Cuomo also said it was a time for new beginnings.
"May the memory of them continue to be a consolation for us. May it inspire us to cherish more dearly our own precious gift of life," the governor said. "Remembering them, may all of us in this state help dry one another's tears and help restore each other to the joy that is our best memory of them."
Three clergymen - representing the Catholic, Jewish and Protestant faiths - offered prayers and words of solace.
Perhaps the most emotional part of the service came during tributes from two of the speakers most intimately involved - English professor Douglas Unger and Student Government Association President John Mandyck.
Mandyck read a letter he wrote this week to a friend, Frederick "Sandy" Phillips, who was killed in the crash.
"Time has stopped for a while on campus. It's a little quieter. People don't seem to laugh as much. And it's cold. It's been cold since we heard the news," Mandyck read.
"Tomorrow, will you mind if we start the clock again? You see, Sandy, the ink is drying on this chapter of our lives. Tomorrow, I want to start a new chapter," he read. "You won't be in this one because I can't bring you back, but you'll be guiding me - you and the others will be guiding all of us. You'll turn the pages as we write. You'll inspire our pens."
Unger, whose department lost seven students, recited the names of all 35 victims, bidding them goodbye and imploring the mourners to guard the precious memories and carry on the victims' strong and inquiring spirits.
"You have touched us and changed the course of our lives. We will carry some part of you in every voyage we take," Unger said in a cracking voice.
Near the end of the service, Syracuse Chancellor Melvin Eggers spoke, directing his comments to the several hundred parents and family members of the deceased students, among the 270 killed when the plane crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland.
"Your sons and daughters reached and affected others for the better throughout the length and breadth of the campus," said Eggers, who announced that a stone wall carrying the names of the 35 victims would be erected near the university's main entrance and that scholarships would be established in each of their names.
At a press conference before the service, anger seemed to be a common bond among the families.
"I think our foreign policy and lack of understanding of what's going on in the Middle East is abominable," said Georgia Nucci, of Claverack, whose son Christopher Jones was one of the 35 students.
Peter Lowenstein, father of victim Alexander Lowenstein of Morristown, N.J., said the brunt of his anger is directed at the terrorists who planted the bomb aboard the airplane.
"They're pigs. And if we find out who they are ... they really should not be living," he said.
John Schultz, the father of an Ohio Wesleyan University student studying under the Syracuse program, has filed a $7.5 million suit against Pan Am in a Brooklyn federal court.
Thomas Schultz, 20, of Ridgefield, Conn., was a junior with a double major in history and government.
At least eight other lawsuits have been filed since the crash, but Schultz's is believed to be the first by a relative of one of the 35 Syracuse students.