Families, Friends, Strangers Mourn Flight 800 Dead

Lori Farrow knew none of the passengers, none of the flight attendants, none of the crew members of Trans World Airlines Flight 800.

She does, however, know something of sorrow.

The Sherman Oaks woman lost her father suddenly two weeks ago, and after visiting his grave Sunday, she came to this memorial service and sat by herself, in the balcony at the back of a giant hall, and mourned 230 people she had never met, including three from Orange County.

More than 1,000 people--including many who, like Farrow, simply wanted to express their sympathy for those who lost someone close to them in the tragedy--gathered at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, for a service sponsored by the airline.

Among the crowd were several hundred wearing the navy-blue uniforms of TWA--pilots, flight attendants and other employees.

Cheryl DeFonce, a TWA flight attendant who had worked Flight 800--her favorite run--a few times each month, knew most of the 14 flight attendants and crew of three.

“I’m still in a daze,” she said. “I really don’t feel like this actually happened to us.”

The loss from the Paris-bound flight was so great, the dead so numerous, that eulogies were limited to a few words, and only for the airline employees and passengers from Southern California.

Among those were pilot Ralph G. Kevorkian, 58, of Garden Grove; businessman William R. Story, 51, of Newport Beach; and flight attendant Melinda Torche, 47, of Mission Viejo.

Friends described Kevorkian as a thoughtful, meticulous man who loved skeet shooting and was two years shy of retirement. Story, president and chief executive of National American Insurance Co., was en route to Paris for a business meeting. And Torche was a single mother who loved motorcycles, was dedicated to her job and rarely missed an opportunity to fly to Paris to take in its art, culture and souvenirs.

But all who perished were being remembered by a “worldwide company of mourners,” Rabbi Allen I. Freehling of University Synagogue in Brentwood told the audience.

As the crowd filed out of Forest Lawn’s Hall of Liberty, where the service was held, each of the first 230 was handed a white helium-filled balloon.

Eric Rojany and his girlfriend, Stefani Seltzer, pulled out a felt marker and penned a note on the balloon to Eric’s 19-year-old brother, Yon. Yon Rojany, a former athlete at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, was aboard TWA 800 en route to Italy to try out for several professional basketball teams.

“I love you, Yon,” the balloon read. “Your wings have sprouted. It’s time to use them.” Then, the couple released the balloon into the hot sky, where seven vintage aircraft, piloted by the Van Nuys-based Condor Squadron, flew over the gathering moments later.

TWA pilot Carrol E. McCasland, dressed in his uniform and flight cap, looked up. He knew the pilot, first officer and several others on TWA 800.

“This,” McCasland said quietly, “is perfect flying weather.” The gathering was one of four sponsored by TWA on Sunday. The others were held in St. Louis, Kansas City and New York.

Also Sunday, 1,500 mourners gathered at the Stephen S. Wise Temple off Mulholland Drive to remember Gene Silverman, his wife, Etta, and their children, Candace and Jamie. The Silverman family, of Bel Air, was transferred at the last moment onto the TWA jet when their New York-Rome flight was canceled.

Silverman, 54, was a tax lawyer, and during the two-hour service, a letter was read from the chief judge of the U.S. Tax Court, Mary Ann Cohen, and another tax judge, Stephen J. Swift, eulogizing him.

Seventeen family members and friends spoke at the service as separate portions of it were devoted to each member of the Silverman family, including the couple’s daughters, the 22-year-old Candace, a USC honors graduate, and 15-year-old Jamie, a student at the Wise temple.

One of the most poignant speeches came from Silverman’s elder brother, Ronald, who recalled many happy trips from his East Coast home to California, the bat mitzvahs of Candace and Jamie and the fact that this December would have been Etta and Gene Silverman’s 25th wedding anniversary.

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The Victims

Southern California residents killed the crash of TWA Flight 800:

* Anderson, Seana, 27, of Van Nuys, medical office secretary (engaged to Brent Richey).

* Chemtob, Monique, of Mar Vista (was traveling to her brother’s funeral in Europe).

* Kevorkian, Capt. Ralph G., 58, of Garden Grove, TWA Flight 800 pilot.

* Lucien, Dalila, 17, of Los Angeles (niece of Ana Maria Shorter and daughter of jazz singer Jon Lucien).

* Richey, Brent, 26, of Van Nuys, law student and business owner.

* Rojany, Yon, 19, of Studio City, aspiring basketball player.

* Shorter, Ana Maria, 47, of Studio City (wife of jazz musician Wayne Shorter).

* Silverman, Candace, 22, of Bel-Air (daughter of Etta and Eugene Silverman).

* Silverman, Etta, 53, of Bel-Air.

* Silverman, Eugene, 54, of Bel-Air, tax attorney and partner with DeCastro, West & Chodorow of Westwood.

* Silverman, Jamie, 15, of Bel-Air (daughter of Etta and Eugene Silverman).

* Story, William R., 51, of Newport Beach, president and chief executive officer of National American Insurance Co.

* Torche, Melinda, 47, of Mission Viejo, TWA Flight 800 crew.

* Warren, Lani, 48, of San Diego, off-duty TWA flight service manager.