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Hendricks Chapel held its annual remembrance ceremony for the 270 victims who died in the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack — including 35 Syracuse University study abroad students — on Tuesday.

The ceremony is held every year at 2:03 p.m. on Dec. 21, the exact date and time when the plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. Family members and friends of the victims also held a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery simultaneously.

The ceremony was hosted virtually from the Noble Room of the chapel and at the Wall of Remembrance. It had been scheduled in both virtual and in-person formats but was moved entirely virtual due to COVID-19 precautions.

“Each year, on this date and time, we gather here at Hendricks Chapel to look back and act forward,” said the Rev. Brian Konkol, the dean of Hendricks Chapel, in his welcome remarks at the beginning of the ceremony. “May we remember our past, and may we all receive the fullness of life that awaits us far into the future.”

Theresa Chen, a jazz piano instructor at SU’s Setnor School of Music, played “Abide with Me” after a moment of silence.

Campus chaplains of different religions at Hendricks offered prayers during the ceremony. Rev. Gail Riina, SU’s Lutheran Chaplain, read “We Remember Them” written by Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer.

“We confess that the years have not diminished their place in our hearts,” said Elder Melvin Baker, SU’s Historically Black Church Chaplain. “We continue to remember and pray for them, this day and all days.”

Remembrance Scholars Ifeyinwa Ojukwu, Ava Breitbeck and Micayla MacDougall read the names of the 35 students and two residents of Clay, New York, who died in the bombing.

The Crouse Chimemasters tolled the chimes while the dean and chaplains walked from Hendricks Chapel to the Wall of Remembrance in front of the Hall of Languages, playing “Amazing Grace” when they approached the wall.

The Rev. Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz, the assistant chaplain of SU’s Buddhist Chaplaincy, offered a meditation in front of the Wall of Remembrance. Amir Durić and Gerry Waterman, SU’s Muslim and Catholic chaplains, offered blessings at the end of the ceremony.

Published on December 21, 2021 at 8:48 pm

Contact Francis: [email protected] | @francis_towne