TWA Flight 800 families finding peace in return to memorial at Smith Point County Park

For many of the families of the 230 people on board TWA Flight 800, returning to the memorial at Smith Point County Park brings them peace.

Maria Toscano, 74, of Shirley, visited the memorial this week, ahead of the 29th anniversary on Thursday, to remember her niece Virginia Holst and her husband, Eric Holst, of Manorville. They were traveling to a wedding in Paris on a Boeing 747-100 that took off from Kennedy Airport on July 17, 1996.

Twelve minutes after takeoff, the jet exploded in midair at 8:31 p.m. at an elevation of 13,800 feet and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about 10 miles south of East Moriches, killing 212 passengers and 18 crew members on board.

"Virginia and Eric were beautiful souls," Toscano said before tracing her fingers over their names, etched in polished black granite. "They left us too young. They left us too soon."

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the cause was likely the result of an electrical short in faulty wiring, which ignited vapors in the plane’s fuel tank, triggering the explosion.

Families from around the world will return to the memorial Thursday, as they have since 2002, to remember loved ones near the beach at Smith Point, which marks the closest point to where the debris field of the wreckage was found.

The beachside memorial is cared for by a group of organizations, including the Manorville-based Independent Group Home Living, on behalf of the TWA 800 Families Association. It is maintained through the year by more than 100 volunteers, including groups of developmentally disabled adults from Smile Farms who planted flowers at the memorial this week.

"These guys understand what it is to grieve, and they understand what it is to lose a loved one, and it gives them the opportunity to give back. It's important," said Frank Lombardi, chief logistics officer for Kinexion, the parent company of IGHL.

A worker with Smile Farms, Christopher Carubia, 54, of Southold, helped plant flowers this week. He said he hoped to make a peaceful place for visitors to the memorial.

"This is for the people who died in Flight 800. A plane crashed into the water. It was sad and scary," Carubia said. "It’s nice, very quiet. I hope they think it’s very calming. I want them to know that we’re thinking of them and giving them peace."

"For the families, the memorial is a physical representation of the sense of grief, loss and love for the people they lost, and people who came to our aid," said John Seaman, who lost his 19-year-old niece, Michele Seaman, of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the crash. He also serves as chairman of the TWA 800 Families Association.

"Like strangers getting washed up on the beach, the way the people of Long Island responded was unbelievable," Seaman said. "The memorial was made so we are able to express ourselves and our feelings and the need for a remembrance. One mother told me when the memorial was completed, that she finally had a place to lay her grief down and not feel guilty about it."

Margaret Krick, 78, of Wentzville, Missouri, has attended the memorial service every year to mark the anniversary and the loss of her son Oliver "Ollie" Krick, 25, who was the flight engineer on the plane.

She said her son was on his fourth flight and starting his career, following in his family’s path of other pilots. At age 25, he was flying for the airline and working toward becoming a National Guard pilot.

Krick said health problems would force her to miss this year’s memorial, marking only the second time she had not come to Long Island for the anniversary, in addition to the canceled ceremony in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When she returns to the memorial, Krick said, she’s reminded of her son’s love of the water and flying.

"Some people lose loved ones in a way with dark and depressing feeling, but I don’t feel that. When I stand there by the ocean, it’s breathtaking for him to be remembered," Krick said. "It brings everything back. When I am there, I feel so connected, faced with God. It's what they deserved and where they all took their last breaths. They were all looking for a beautiful flight landing in Paris or Rome."

Heidi Snow, of San Francisco, lost her fiance, Michel Breistroff, 25, in the crash as he was going to Europe to play hockey.

Snow helped establish the memorial, and the disaster also inspired her to start the charity ACCESS — AirCraft Casualty Emotional Support Services — to help families affected by airplane crashes.

She said she connected with family members from the Pan Am 103 bombing to learn to handle her grief.

Snow said she and other families plan to return next year to mark the 30th anniversary.

"It’s important to have a place for people to gather and be at a place where all our lives changed in an instant together," she said. "For those who lived through that, and for me, it’s an important part of the healing process."

NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie contributed to this story.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.