x
Breaking News
More () »

Montoursville Remembers TWA Flight 800 Victims

MONTOURSVILLE — Some people in our area are remembering their loved ones in a special way on the 19th anniversary of their deaths. It’s been 19 year...

MONTOURSVILLE -- Some people in our area are remembering their loved ones in a special way on the 19th anniversary of their deaths.

It's been 19 years since TWA Flight 800 crashed, killing all of its passengers including 21 people from Montoursville.

Some people in Montoursville and beyond are remembering those who lost their lives by paying it forward.

July 17, 1996 is a day the people of Montoursville will never forget. On that day, 16 students and five adults were on board TWA Flight 800 headed to Paris when their plane crashed. All of the passengers were killed.

"I'll never forget that day that we lost all of the children and chaperones. They were my children's friends, my children's friends from childhood," said Dottie Mathers.

"I knew a lot of the kids myself," said Nancy Winner. "It's just a sad day."

But some people who remember the tragedy or lost loved ones, decided to remember the 21 victims from Montoursville by doing 21 random acts of kindness.

Nancy Winner gave out flowers and money to people she didn't know.

Winner's son graduated from Montoursville Area High School in 1996.

"He knew a lot of the youth," Winner recalled. "His best friend Dan was on the airplane. We went to many funerals that day."

Dottie Mathers and her granddaughter gave out candy.

"We got Sweetarts for our sweethearts. So we're going to find people and give them some candy."

Some stores even participated in the 21 random acts of kindness.

Neville's Flower Shop offered blue and yellow carnations at a discount.

In addition to the random acts of kindness, people are constantly stopping by the TWA Flight 800 memorial in Montoursville to remember the lives lost and leave flowers in remembrance of those 21 people.

"It's just a nice peaceful place to remember what happened. Even think about what they would be, what those young people would be at this point in time," said Dinah Labenberg.

The people who organized this event wanted to add that you don't have to be from Montoursville to participate in the 21 random acts of kindness. Whether you're in Scranton, Honesdale, Middleburg, or anywhere else, everybody can participate in this event by doing something nice for someone else.

Before You Leave, Check This Out