wfn.org | Though No Presbyterians Are among Montoursville's Dead

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

25-July-1996 
 
 
 
96274Though No Presbyterians Are among Montoursville's Dead, 
             Local Presbyterians Are Deeply Affected 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Though no members of the Montoursville Presbyterian Church 
died in the crash of Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800, the church is 
searching -- like the rest of this small Pennsylvania town -- for a way to 
feel less helpless in the midst of so much grief. 
 
     Twenty-one residents of Montoursville were among the 230 fatalities -- 
16 high school students and five adults.  
 
     "The town is still just in shock.  It's unreal that something like 
this could happen to such a little small town," said Jean Schoup, chair of 
the deacons and a retired teacher who taught eighth-grade home economics to 
all of the girls who died on board the 747 jetliner. " ... Everyone knows 
everyone. 
 
     "When something happens like this, you feel like it's one of your 
own," she told the Presbyterian News Service. 
      
     At press time, there were conflicting reports about how many of those 
bodies were actually recovered.  But since recovery workers have only 
salvaged 1 percent of the jetliner and it is still impossible to tell 
exactly what caused the plane to explode shortly after leaving Kennedy 
International Airport for Paris, Montoursville is left waiting with more 
questions than answers.  And its churches are waiting to see what 
ministries will be needed to help others -- and themselves -- heal. 
 
     "It's really rather frustrating at this point ... it's a very helpless 
feeling," said church trustee Catheal Weiser, who led the congregation's 
first Sunday worship after the crash because the minister, the Rev. Hobart 
Campbell, was on vacation in Germany.  "What we're going to do as a church 
family ... it's too early yet for us to really know." 
 
     There have been a number of prayer gatherings in Montoursville, 
including one at the Presbyterian church.  The deacons there have sent 
condolence cards to each family and intend to propose that the congregation 
contribute to the town's memorial fund to help affected families.  And 
there are rumors that a community-wide prayer vigil will be held as soon as 
a large-enough facility is secured, perhaps the Little League World Series 
Complex just across the river in Williamsport. 
 
     Bob Shandry, a member of the Montoursville church and stated clerk of 
Donegal Presbytery, said there's talk, too, of starting a scholarship fund. 
 
     But right now there is mostly sadness. 
 
     "The mood [at worship in the Presbyterian church] was very solemn. 
There were a lot of tears, even though the service was not directly 
associated with the crash and the victims themselves.  But they were there 
in our silent prayer, in our joys and concerns," said Weiser, pausing. 
"Our closing choral response was  God Be with You Till We Meet Again.'" 
 
     "That was touching for a lot of people because of the loss," said 
Weiser, who arranged a blue-and-gold bouquet -- the local high school's 
colors -- for the sanctuary out of flowers from her garden, delivering them 
afterward to the school, where memorials have been accumulating since news 
of the crash broke. 
 
     It's those kinds of expressions people are clinging to now, according 
to Weiser, while they wait for something else to do.  "People have this 
great need to do something.  I'm sure we'll find it," she said. "I'm sure 
churches across the country have this helplessness and just aren't sure 
what to do. 
 
     "If we find something," Weiser said, "we'll share it." 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

--