St. Catherine’s Boy, 13, and Parents Killed in Crash : Air Disaster Shocks Anaheim School

For these seven families from Navojoa, in the Mexican state of Sonora, it was supposed to have been a weekend of play in Orange County and warm send-offs for their youngsters, most of whom would be staying behind in Anaheim to attend St. Catherine’s Military School.

But on Monday, the 23 adults and children huddled in small circles in the Anaheim Hilton Hotel lobby, holding up newspapers and staring in disbelief at the photograph of a jetliner plunging out of a clear blue sky.

Among the 58 passengers on board the ill-fated Aeromexico Flight 498 were close friends and relatives of these middle-class Mexican families, who were born and grew up together in Navojoa, an agricultural community with a population of about 120,000.

Almost a Tradition

In keeping with what has become all but a tradition in Navojoa, most of these families had come to enroll their sons in St. Catherine’s. School officials said some of the students’ grandfathers attended the 98-year-old school.

They are sent, officials said, because the well-to-do parents want sons who can speak English and want them to attend a Catholic school.

Traditionally, the Mexican students checked into school a day ahead of the other students so their families could attend a special dinner and fiesta at the school commandant’s home.

But this year “we’re going to have a Mass instead,” said school administrator Sister Regina Marie. “There’s going to be a definite pall on the place,” said Sister Mary Menegatti, the school’s principal.

It was through a series of fateful twists that they were grieving Monday over the loss of their loved ones.

Carlos Lopez Jr., 13, who was going to enroll in St. Catherine’s; his father, Carlos Sr., a public accountant and salt-mine supervisor, and his mother, Guadalupe, all died in the fiery crash.

Dinorah Gonzalez, 17, who was going to enroll as a senior at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in Flintridge, also perished.

According to their friends, the Lopez family last week announced plans to fly as far as Tijuana, where they were going to rent a car and drive north to Anaheim.

At the last minute, they apparently changed their minds and decided instead to fly into Los Angeles International Airport with Gonzalez, who had tried but failed to get tickets for a Saturday flight, which was full.

“I tried to talk Dinorah into traveling with us,” said Abelino Fernandez, 47, who operates a farm in Navojoa and flew to John Wayne Airport on Saturday in a private plane.

“But Dinorah said she wanted to stay two more days in Navojoa,” he said.

“I lost my very best friend,” said Fernandez’s daughter, Pilar, 17, bursting into tears at the memory of her first cousin.

Happy at Home

At a send-off party Friday night in Navojoa, both the Lopez boy and Gonzalez told friends they were ecstatic about getting to stay home a little longer.

“At the party, Carlos said he was happy to stay another day with his friends,” said Alfredo Santini, 14, who was enrolling for his second year at the military school.

Alfredo, fighting back tears, said the boys had not said goodby in Navojoa, only that they would see each other Sunday--the day of the crash.

As it turned out, two of the eight families left Mexico on Thursday and Saturday in private planes. Two drove the 900 miles up from Mexico by car. Three flew as far as Tijuana, where they rented cars and drove to Anaheim.

All of them planned to rendezvous at the Hilton on Sunday and spend their free time at Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm or local beaches.

Norma Cuevas, 37, was looking over uniforms for her 12-year-old son, Adrian, at the military school store at noon Sunday when news of the crash came over the radio. She immediately returned to the hotel and found a seat in the lobby and waited, “hoping to see the Lopez family drive up in a car. We never saw them again.”

Abelino Fernandez contacted Lopez family relatives Sunday night in Mexico and tried to explain the situation.

“They already knew the plane had crashed and were in shock,” he said.

Definite news reached the school staff during Mass in the school chapel Sunday. Sister Regina Marie said the staff already was worried, since a Mexican airliner heading for Los Angeles on that particular day “could have some of our people on it.”

Mass Interrupted

But later, Mass was interrupted to announce that the passenger list included a boy named Carlos Lopez. It had to be their Carlos Lopez, Sister Regina Marie said, and Mass was said for him.

Nuns said the news hit Sister Alphonsus especially hard. She was in charge of the “A Company” dormitory where Carlos lived last school year. She called him “Charlie.” “Everybody called him ‘Charlie,’ ” she said.

“I think he was personality plus, just a delightful boy. He played basketball, baseball, soccer. As small as he was, he held his own with the larger kids. He could boss those big kids around and did it with his personality. Flair--he really had the flair.”

Sister Alphonsus said Carlos was so well liked by the boys that last February, when he was too ill on his birthday to go with the rest to Knott’s Berry Farm, the boys on their own initiative brought back mementos for him. “They filled up his bed. Even boys from other companies brought them,” she said.

Carlos had done well his first year, Sister Mary Menegatti said. He had done well academically and had learned English well enough to be transferred to regular classes.

He was an altar boy and a member of the choir whose high soprano voice earned him a place in the front row. “He loved the liturgy,” said Sister Mary Menegatti.

His popularity with other boys and his ability to lead them had earned him an appointment this year as officer of the “Company E” dormitory, where the dozen or so second-, third- and fourth-graders lived.

He would act not so much as a military-style leader but as a role model, Sister Regina Marie said. “He was just a neat kid,” Sister Mary Menegatti said.

Sister Eugenia is in charge of the “Company E” dormitory and had been preparing for the boys’ arrival by setting name cards onto the beds that stood in long rows. Carlos’ name was on one of the larger beds.

“Twenty-seven years I am here, and no bad accident,” said Sister Eugenia.

“We take the boys out on weekend trips, and you pray that they come back safely,” said Sister Regina Marie. “We’ve been so fortunate. . . .” But she let the sentence trail off, unfinished.

“It’s so final ,” she said . “Those children (Carlos’ brother and two sisters), there’s no part of their mother, father and brother that they’ll see in this life again. It’s so hard for them.”

‘Everyone Knows Everyone’

It hardly will be easier on the returning students, said Sister Mary Menegatti. All but new students will have vivid memories of Carlos. There are only about 205 students, about 40 from Mexico. “We’re a small enough school that everyone knows everyone. There’s a lot of camaraderie among the boys,” she said.

The boys will check in, and they will see on the bulletin board Carlos’ photograph and the inscription below it: “May they rest in peace. Let us remember in love and prayers.”

Below the inscription they’ll see a snapshot of Carlos and his fellow student from Navojoa, Alfredo Santini--both in school baseball uniforms, leaning on one another in a pizza restaurant, both smiling because they had won the game that day.

The boys will attend a Mass for Carlos and his parents. Then, said Sister Regina Marie, things will hopefully start returning to normal.