Thursday proved to be a black day in Clarence Center. Around 10:20 p.m. the commuter airplane which carried 49 people en route to Buffalo, crashed into a home bursting into flames and casting a sickly glow that could be seen for miles. It is hard to say whether the people on board had a chance or not. The fact is that everyone on the plane including a man inside the home were killed. According to news reports, most of the passengers were athletes and students returning home for reunions, a Sept. 11 widow on her way to a celebration and several Buffalo-area residents.

64-year-old Gerry Niewood, a member of jazz great Chuck Mangione's band together with his guitarist colleague, Coleman Mellett lost their lives on the tragic Continental Flight 3407.

 

Another victim was Beverly Eckert, the widow of Sean Rooney, who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The woman was on her way to Buffalo for a family celebration in honor of what would have been her husband’s 58^th birthday.

 

Among victims there were decorated Vietnam veteran Clay Yarber, a Marine who had survived two helicopter crashes. It looks like the man was not that lucky with airplanes. Then there was and 24-year-old Maddy Loftus, a college hockey player whose friends are left to recall her beautiful smile and her hockey games. This was also the last flight for Susan Wehle, a cantor of Williamsburg, New York synagogue Temple Beth Am, who had just released a CD ironically called "Songs of Hope and Healing."

 

The tragedy is so great that words seem to be pointless right now.