MONTOURSVILLE – It will be 24 years this Friday since TWA Flight 800 crash, and two former Montoursville Area School District teachers still have difficulty talking about it.
Jim and Sharon Goss were among the handful of people who Sunday attended a brief ceremony to mark the upcoming anniversary that was held in the memorial park adjacent to the high school.
Among the 230 killed July 17, 1996, when the Paris-bound jet exploded off Long Island were 16 members of the Montoursville Area High School French Club and five chaperones.
Goss was a guidance counselor and his wife a fifth-grade teacher at McCall Middle School.
Two of the victims, Monica Cox and Kim Rogers, were in her homeroom when they attended middle school.
“I got so close to them,” she said. “Not a day goes by I don’t think of this [tragedy].”
Each year Skip Pulcrano, a retired cheerleading coach from New Jersey, returns to Montoursville and with the help of those in attendance places 21 flowers around the monument containing the names of the 16 students and chaperones.
He was home that day when he heard a loud noise, assuming it was thunder. The sky was blue so he knew that wasn’t it and a short time later the news of crash came on TV, he said.
He was full-time coach of ShoreCheer, a cheerleading group in Manasquan, New Jersey, that had the motto: “Beyond the Competition.” He explained he encouraged the girls to get involved in the community.
The New Jersey cheerleaders had no link with Montoursville but they wanted to do something because among the school’s victims were cheerleaders.
Pulcrano brought a group of cheerleaders to a grieving Montoursville about a month after the crash, carrying with them messages from throughout the country.
It was the start of a relationship he has had with Montoursville ever since. Some of the cheerleaders returned with him four years ago.
Although he has tested negative he said because of the coronavirus he would not be permitted to bring any of them with him this year.
The Gosses have not attended the informal ceremony in recent years. It was just too difficult for them, Sharon Goss said, the emotion showing on her face.
“We both said we need to go,” she responded why they decided to come this year. “It’s not so bad anymore,” her husband said fighting back tears. “I’m better now.”
A few rain drops fell during the ceremony causing one attendee to comment, “They were tears from heaven.”
A more formal event likely will be held next year to mark the 25th anniversary and Pulcrano said he will help with the planning.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the cause of the explosion was likely a short circuit that ignited fuel vapors as the pilots were shifting fuel to better balance the airplane.
Some, however, believe the plane was hit by a terrorist’s missile or an accidental launch by the U.S. Navy.
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