Past Remembrance Scholars reflect on program, representing Pan Am Flight 103 victims

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Julie Friend was halfway through her sophomore year at Syracuse University when the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist attack occurred over Lockerbie, Scotland. When SU founded the Remembrance Scholar program in the 1990-91 school year, Friend felt motivated to apply.

“I just remember thinking, ‘I guess it’s the responsibility of the rest of us to try to live out some of their dreams,’” Friend said.

Friend and other Remembrance program alumni reflected on their time in the program and how it has impacted them in their careers and personal growth. Cleo Hamilton and Friend, graduates of SU in 1991 and 2020 respectively, said their experiences continue to play a role in their lives.

Friend, who represented Gretchen Dater, said that she felt humility throughout her experience as a Remembrance Scholar, but she didn’t frequently discuss it with her friends because of the traumatic nature of the attack.

“We’re so informed now about how to talk about trauma and how to recognize it, and we are so much better with all of the … word choices,” Friend said. “We really just didn’t have that level of understanding or even sophistication at the time, so there was not a lot of talk about it.”

Now, Friend remembers the event annually with her friends Beth, her former roommate, and Emily, who she keeps in touch with from their time together at SU. Friend and Beth returned to SU for the 25th anniversary of the attack in 2013 and were able to see the evolution of Remembrance Week.

After being chosen to represent Eric Coker as a 2019-20 Remembrance Scholar, Hamilton said he visited the sixth floor of Bird Library every day after class to read Coker’s file in the Pan Am Flight 103 Archive.

“I started screaming the word ‘yes’ (when) I got selected as one of the 35 students,” Hamilton said.

On Oct. 7, antisemitic language was discovered in letters from Eric Coker and his twin, Jason Coker, in the archives. Hamilton said at the time of the interview he was not aware of the recent findings.

Hamilton noted the emotional impact that the Remembrance events had on him and the other scholars when he participated. At the end of one of the events, he recalled an intimate moment between the 2019-20 cohort.

“We all cried together,” he said. “We all had to give each other hugs.”

When Friend was a Remembrance Scholar, Remembrance Week had only one ceremony. Friend gave a speech at the ceremony, which she said was a defining moment of her experience as one of the first Remembrance Scholars because she was able to be with the parents of the students killed in the attack. She said the ceremony deepened her recognition of the parents’ loss and pain.

Hamilton met Coker’s parents after the 2019-20 Rose Laying Ceremony event. It was his favorite event because of all the different SU community members that attended.

Hamilton still maintains contact with Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn, the Pan Am Flight 103 Archivist. Though he hasn’t spoken to Coker’s father since they first met, Hamilton said he hoped to reunite with him during this year’s events.

“I’m an only child and there were some parents there whose sons or daughters were also only children,” Friend said. “I just can’t imagine the hole that creates in your heart. So I remember it just being a very lovely, heartfelt thoughtful ceremony.”

Hamilton said he maintains contact with his Remembrance cohort in their GroupMe chat and has even connected with scholars from different cohorts. He said he always looks forward to reuniting with them and Remembrance staff when he attends campus events.

Hamilton, who lives in the Westcott neighborhood, has continued attending Remembrance events since graduating and plans to continue doing so.

Friend said that when she was back on campus, seeing the photo display from the Pan Am Flight 103 Archives in the Schine Student Center was “extremely touching,” and witnessing the “Sitting in Solidarity” ceremony with the chairs on the quad in the layout of the plane was “heart-wrenching.”

“This is an example of a good tradition that, of course, came out of a tragic incident, but it’s become such an integral part of the the Syracuse community experience and it’s taken with such deliberate care, to be put together every year so thoughtfully, and I was just extremely impressed and really honored … by the long term dedication,” Friend said.