The following is a comment posted today in response to an article about teenage vandalizing of the United 232 Memorial in Sioux City.
It's always hard to lose a close friend. I lost one on United 232.The number of times I have seen the video of the plane tumbling down the runway in an orange ball of fire is vividly imprinted on my mind to this day. George was on his way home to his high school reunion. We would have been in the same high school but a new school was build and a line drawn in the sand. George stayed at the old high school and I went to the new one. We knew the same friends, we went to college together. Over the years we didn't stay in touch though not as much as we should have but we still thought of each other as friends. In high school I had four close friends. Over time, they have passed one,by one. Three in accidents, one of a nasty cancer. I've also lost a son who at 27 was in his prime of life having done everything right. Over the years, this date, this crash, this United 232 has come to be the anniversary of my friends and my son.My son came through Sioux City with his grandmother en route to my niece's wedding in Nebraska just a year before his death. Sioux City is so dear to me. Life is somewhat odd how various parts of life meet as in its own reunion or wedding. The people of Sioux City remember a terrible plane accident. I remember the loss of a very good friend who seems to call out once a year that the Sioux City Reunion Club is calling the membership to order. Grief is slowly turning into healing though the losses still show as scars in my soul, but pain is growing less severe. Thank you Sioux City for being the guardian of a bigger memorial than you can ever know you watch over.
Thanks to Amy Hynde at the Sioux City Journal for taking care of a technical problem earlier in the day.
www.siouxcityjournal.com
It's always hard to lose a close friend. I lost one on United 232.The number of times I have seen the video of the plane tumbling down the runway in an orange ball of fire is vividly imprinted on my mind to this day. George was on his way home to his high school reunion. We would have been in the same high school but a new school was build and a line drawn in the sand. George stayed at the old high school and I went to the new one. We knew the same friends, we went to college together. Over the years we didn't stay in touch though not as much as we should have but we still thought of each other as friends. In high school I had four close friends. Over time, they have passed one,by one. Three in accidents, one of a nasty cancer. I've also lost a son who at 27 was in his prime of life having done everything right. Over the years, this date, this crash, this United 232 has come to be the anniversary of my friends and my son.My son came through Sioux City with his grandmother en route to my niece's wedding in Nebraska just a year before his death. Sioux City is so dear to me. Life is somewhat odd how various parts of life meet as in its own reunion or wedding. The people of Sioux City remember a terrible plane accident. I remember the loss of a very good friend who seems to call out once a year that the Sioux City Reunion Club is calling the membership to order. Grief is slowly turning into healing though the losses still show as scars in my soul, but pain is growing less severe. Thank you Sioux City for being the guardian of a bigger memorial than you can ever know you watch over.
Thanks to Amy Hynde at the Sioux City Journal for taking care of a technical problem earlier in the day.
www.siouxcityjournal.com
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