The Daily OrangeWeek of events honor 1988 Pan Am 103 tragedy
By Lia Calabro
Posted: 10/16/08, 4:05 AM EST Section: News
Kara Weipz will lay a rose on the Wall of Remembrance next Friday.
She will stand in front of the Hall of Languages as a former Syracuse University student, as the president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group, as a wife and a mother, as a daughter, as a sister.
She will lay the rose for her brother Rick Monetti, an SU journalism and political science major who lost his life on Pan Am Flight 103 two decades ago this December. He was 20 years old.
"This has been my life," said Weipz, who was 15 when the flight exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. "I have lived through it. I have grown up with it."
SU alumni, faculty and current students will join Weipz and family members of Pan Am 103 victims to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the attack.
They will gather at several on-campus events during SU's 12th annual Remembrance Week, which begins Sunday and ends Oct. 26. Together they will remember those lost in the tragedy that changed SU.
Monetti was one of 35 SU students who boarded Pan Am Flight 103 at London's Heathrow Airport Dec. 21, 1988. The students had spent a semester studying in London and Florence through SU's Division of International Programs Abroad, now known as SU Abroad. The flight was headed for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in a Libyan-sponsored terrorist bombing. All 259 of the flight's crew and passengers were killed in the explosion. Eleven Lockerbie residents on the ground were also killed.
Brian Spendley, senior biomedical engineering major, is one of this year's Remembrance Scholars. The scholars are a group of 35 SU seniors, each selected to represent an SU student killed in the attack.
"We're charged with the role of educating and reminding the SU community of the events of Pan Am 103," Spendley said. "I think this year, it's exceedingly important because it's the 20th anniversary. It's important to educate each other and remember the lives that were lost and honor those people and their families."
She will stand in front of the Hall of Languages as a former Syracuse University student, as the president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group, as a wife and a mother, as a daughter, as a sister.
She will lay the rose for her brother Rick Monetti, an SU journalism and political science major who lost his life on Pan Am Flight 103 two decades ago this December. He was 20 years old.
"This has been my life," said Weipz, who was 15 when the flight exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. "I have lived through it. I have grown up with it."
SU alumni, faculty and current students will join Weipz and family members of Pan Am 103 victims to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the attack.
They will gather at several on-campus events during SU's 12th annual Remembrance Week, which begins Sunday and ends Oct. 26. Together they will remember those lost in the tragedy that changed SU.
Monetti was one of 35 SU students who boarded Pan Am Flight 103 at London's Heathrow Airport Dec. 21, 1988. The students had spent a semester studying in London and Florence through SU's Division of International Programs Abroad, now known as SU Abroad. The flight was headed for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in a Libyan-sponsored terrorist bombing. All 259 of the flight's crew and passengers were killed in the explosion. Eleven Lockerbie residents on the ground were also killed.
Brian Spendley, senior biomedical engineering major, is one of this year's Remembrance Scholars. The scholars are a group of 35 SU seniors, each selected to represent an SU student killed in the attack.
"We're charged with the role of educating and reminding the SU community of the events of Pan Am 103," Spendley said. "I think this year, it's exceedingly important because it's the 20th anniversary. It's important to educate each other and remember the lives that were lost and honor those people and their families."
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