Hi, neighbor. Here's this morning's update from the Wheeling paper:
Communities, School Mourn Crash Victims
By KATIE WILSON With Wire Dispatches
McMECHEN - Students, teachers and community members gathered in front of Bishop Donohue High School Sunday to help each other grieve the loss of students JoBeth Gross, Danielle Block and her father, Courtney.
Brother Rene Roy, principal of the school, said people felt the need to meet at the school because of the school community's close-knit, family atmosphere of love, compassion and respect. We regard each other as brother and sister, he said.
"This is home, that's why people are here today," he said.
He said a tragedy like this has never occurred at the school before.
Small groups of people gathered outside the school, under a banner proclaiming the school's 50 years of excellence in Catholic education. A small memorial was set up on the school's steps, featuring brightly colored flowers, pictures of Block and Gross, and a selection of softball equipment in honor of the girls' years on the softball team.
Many of those gathered were too emotional to speak; those who could spoke of the girls' warmth, vitality and enthusiasm.
Loretta Metz, who teaches religion at the school, said the girls spent two years in her classes.
"They were builders, they didn't tear other people down," she said. "It didn't matter what you needed, they were there to help."
Metz characterized the girls as helpful and students who could find humor in almost anything.
"They were so full of joy, full of wonder, full of life," she said.
Brother John Byrd, a teacher, counselor and campus minister at the school, said the girls had a "contagious enthusiasm" for community service. They participated in numerous community service projects through the school, including three flood relief projects: two this past year in the Ohio Valley, and a third in June 2003, after their sophomore year.
He said the students and Block's parents left last Friday morning to drive to New York. On Thursday, Block and Gross participated in a day retreat for the senior class. Byrd said the retreat was voluntary, and only one student could not participate because of a seriously ill family member.
"It provided them with an opportunity to have positive closure for their senior year," he said.
Metz agreed the retreat was an important day for the seniors.
"Every student took away a gifted feeling of oneness," she said.
Roy said the school day will begin at the regularly scheduled time this morning. Classes will be replaced with prayer and counseling. Students can speak with teachers or counselors one on one, or in small groups, then they're free to go home.
The baccalaureate Mass will be held tonight, as per Jodi Block's request, Roy said. Graduation will go on as planned Tuesday, after as normal of a school day as possible.
"It's important for the kids to celebrate Danielle and JoBeth," Metz said.
The teens and two others were known as the four musketeers because they did everything together.
In fact, a third "musketeer" had initially been on the plane with her two friends but got sick and asked the pilot to take her back, Roy said. When Melissa McCulley, 18, got off, she was replaced by Danielle's father, Courtney Block, 38, a United Parcel Service truck driver.
The plane crashed about 1:30 p.m. Saturday on a sunny spring day at the popular Brooklyn beach, authorities said. Courtney and Danielle Block, Gross, and pilot Endrew Allen, 32, of Queens, were killed.
The specific cause of the crash was unknown, and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
The plane was registered to RJ Ventures LLC of Paramus, N.J., and it took off earlier Saturday from the Linden Airport in New Jersey.
Jodi Block waited at the airport for her daughter and husband, as did Melissa and Melissa's mother.
Mrs. Block "suspected something was wrong when the plane didn't come back when it was supposed to," Roy said.
Danielle had just been accepted at Wheeling Jesuit University, had several scholarships, and planned to become a nurse. Gross had planned to go to Bethany College.
From today's Wheeling newspaper:
Graduates Share Tears and Joy
By JUSTIN D. ANDERSON With AP Dispatches
McMECHEN - The Bishop Donahue High School class of 2005 motto is a very simple one: "Every Ending is a New Beginning."
Fifteen seniors walked onto the stage in the school gymnasium during commencement Tuesday to accept their diplomas, but 17 were granted - two posthumously.
The mood of the commencement was balanced - at times full of joy and pride and at others sprinkled with tears.
The chairs that were to be occupied by seniors JoBeth Gross and Danielle Block were left empty and draped with white linen. The students were killed in an airplane crash Saturday at Coney Island, N.Y., along with Block's father, Courtney, 39, and pilot Endrew Allen, 32. the crash remains under investigation.
White lilies bordered the front of the stage. The families of the deceased sat solemnly in the rows behind the graduating class. Gross' father and brother, Robert and Robert Jr., and family members of Block rose and accepted the girls' diplomas and, later, two scholarship awards.
Block also was recognized as a member of the National Honor Society and as one of the top 10 students in her class.
Block's mother, Jodi, who did not attend Tuesday, was given the Champagnat Award along with two other students' parents for her commitment to service to school functions.
Beginning the commencement to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance," members of the graduating class walked one by one down the aisle between family and friends to take their seats in the front row. Most smiled proudly in their green and gold caps and gowns as they passed their families. A few appeared sullen and distant. One elderly gentleman wept into his hands. Robert Gross rose, consoled the man and returned to his seat behind his daughter's empty chair. The elderly man continued to weep throughout the commencement.
For the Gross family, it's the latest knot in a string of heartbreaks: Gross' mother died of cancer nearly seven years ago, her grandfather is dying of cancer now, and her father is permanently disabled from a work-related accident. Two years ago, Gross' aunt was shot to death, and a year before that, a flood destroyed the Gross family home.
Robert Gross planned to borrow money to pay for his daughter's funeral, but the small, financially struggling school stepped in.
Run by the Marist Brothers, Bishop Donahue has just 80 students in grades 9-12 and has racked up about $500,000 in debts in recent years. The school charges Catholic students $2,400 and non-Catholics $3,500 for tuition. The actual costs of education is $7,000 per student.
On Tuesday the school began soliciting donations for the funeral costs.
Retiring Principal Brother Rene Roy said remaining funds will be used for a tuition assistance fund in the students' names. If it grows large enough, it will become an endowment that could either reduce debt or lower tuition rates so more students can enroll.
During the commencement ceremony, Roy told the students that the past week has presented more of a challenge to them than they could wish upon their worst enemies.
"We are attempting to break through the clouds of grief and sorrow that have been forced upon us by the tragic deaths of our sisters, Danielle and JoBeth, and our brother, Courtney," Roy said. "We will rise again as a family - stronger than ever in the values that really matter."
Roy pointed out to the seniors that both he and they are moving into "uncharted waters" of their lives. Quoting the late Pope John Paul II, Roy urged the students: "Be not afraid." He advised them not to lose their relationship with God and to remember that "life is short; eternity will never end."
In the past few days, Roy said, it should have been evident to the students that much of their education comes from others. From the brief lives of Gross and Block, the students and adults should learn "how to insert ourselves totally in what we do."
"We have learned not to take each other for granted," Roy added.
Class Salutatorian Caroline Fay Horacek began her speech with a quote from Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."
"I think this is appropriate for our graduation," Horacek said, reminding her classmates that two of their own would not be joining them in their endeavors into adulthood.
"This year's been one of the best," Horacek said. "I thank my classmates for that."
She talked about each of her classmates, sometimes joking and causing laughter among the audience, telling them what each had taught her. When she got to Block and Gross, she said the two "helped more people in 18 years than most of us ever will."
Horacek ended her speech with a passage from Dr. Seuss' poem, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"
"Congratulations. Today is your day. You're off to great places. You're off and away ..."
At this point in the poem, Horacek broke down and wept, struggling with the rest of the words.
Valedictorian Marissa Anne Smith told her classmates they hold an "unbelievable amount of potential to make a difference in our world" and commented on the students' strong work ethic.
She told the seniors they must maintain their strength and identities through all the tragedies of their lives, especially the one they are experiencing right now. She went on to thank her friends for accepting her as she is.
Smith, too, talked about her friends and family by name, telling them of the things she's learned from each one.
"It seems so unfair that Danielle and JoBeth were not allowed to sit today with the rest of the graduates," Smith said. "However, I do hope that JoBeth and Danielle are with us now, watching over us. Both of their lives were too short.
"They have left a tremendous mark on the world."