St. Killian’s Mass, Tribute at the Copiague Band Competition


Coming to grips with what happened across the state Thursday — a bus crash that took the lives of two beloved Farmingdale High School teachers and injured dozens of students — continued in the village and beyond Sunday.

At St. Killian Parish in Farmingdale, an audience of about 400 listened attentively during the 9:30 a.m. A priest recalled laughing with his young grandson after he met 77-year-old Beatrice Ferrari, a band patron and retired teacher who died in the crash. Only last week there was anger in the church.

Walter G. Inside the auditorium of O’Connell Copiague High School, students representing Long Island’s 10 high school marching bands came out of the pouring rain and performed in their dress uniforms – many wearing a small, green ribbon in honor of this day. Decorated with. Among the victims of the Farmingdale High School bus crash.

deeper meaning

Sunday Mass in late September and the New York State Field Band Conference competition – both given unexpectedly deep meanings, in the form of questions with no answers and, finally, a sad preview of funerals this week and more memories of the fragility of life. .

what to know

  • Worshipers at St. Killian’s Catholic Church on Sunday Condolences to the victims of the Farmingdale High School bus crash.
  • In Copiague, 10 Marching Bands A competition took place and many people wore green ribbons to pay tribute to the victims.
  • A newcomer to Farmingdale High’s dance The team worked with her mother to deliver care packages to her classmates, teachers and coaches.

“This could have happened to anybody,” Copiague High band director Eric Dobmeier said of the crash, which also killed Farmingdale High’s band director, Gina Pelletier, 43.

Dobmeier, who has been involved in band activities for more than two decades, said he has taken bus trips with students many times.

“It definitely hits close to home. …My heart goes out to that community,” he said shortly after his marching band performed at the auditorium.

Farmingdale High School band director Gina Pelletier, 43, died in a bus crash Thursday. Credit: Tony Lopez

One of Dobmeier’s band members, 17-year-old Kamar Birthright, a senior, said the reasons he likes marching band include traveling to competitions and the chance to meet new people. Birthright, who wore a green shirt and green ribbon, said of the bus accident: “It’s very sad.”

On Saturday, Farmingdale Schools Superintendent Paul Defendini said all those injured in the bus crash were expected to recover. There were no updates from the school district or New York State Police on Sunday.

The charter bus was headed to a band camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania, carrying six people when it crashed at 1:12 a.m. Thursday on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda in upper Orange County. Officials said the bus fell into a 50-feet deep gorge and overturned. Forty students and four adults were aboard the charter bus, which state transportation officials said was operated by Regency Transportation of Nesconset.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the lead investigating agency, said several students were thrown out of the bus. The board said Friday that investigators were looking at several factors that could have caused the crash, including a left front tire failure, mechanical problems and driver error.

Beatrice Ferrari remembered during Mass at St. Kilian. Credit: Ferrari Family

State police spokesman Steven Newell said speed and possible driver impairment have also not yet been ruled out as factors.

‘We are strong. we are Family’

Three days after the accident, mourners sought solace in the pews of St. Kilian on Sunday. Patron Tina Cotton, who was traveling on the other bus with her daughter Angelica, a freshman on the school dance team, at the time of the crash, said mass prayer was a priority.

“It’s really important for us, really important for the whole community that we support parents whose children are still in the hospital or just coming out of the hospital and going through a long recovery, And support the families of the teachers and children who were lost.”We have been through trauma. They witnessed something so traumatic. … We are strong. We are a family,” Cotton said after the 11 a.m. mass. ”

Angelica, 14, said she and her friends on the dance team were so excited about the trip that they talked about it all summer, even counting down class periods on Thursdays until they got on the bus.

When Angelica attended Northside Elementary School in Farmingdale, two of her teachers had a visit on a Saturday that not only made her happy, but also inspired.

Walt Whitman High School marching band members wear green ribbons in honor of the Farmingdale High School bus crash victims at the Copiague High School competition on Sunday. Credit: James Carbone

“He just made me happy. And I wanted to make other people happy,” Angelica said Sunday at home, wearing a black hoodie with the white and green “Farmingdale Dellerettes.”

After the teachers, Hillary Siegel and Melissa Tyler, left the house on Saturday, Angelica bought bags of chocolates with the money she earned from babysitting.

“Everyone loves chocolate,” she thought. With her mother’s help, she melted chocolates, shaped them into white and green paw prints on lollipops, and tied the plastic over the sweets with green and white ribbon. She also dipped pretzel sticks in chocolate. Angelica, along with her mother, delivered nearly 100 care packages with chocolate lollipops and pretzels to her classmates, teachers and coaches in the rain on Saturday, with more arriving on Sunday.

“I love making people smile,” he said.

So did Gina Pelletierre, according to Jennifer Ross-Troise, fine arts director for the Copiague School District, who knew the band director when both attended Hofstra University.

“Gina was 5-foot-1, but she had the personality of a 7-foot-9 person,” Ross-Trois said Sunday at the Copiague Band Competition. “She was always there to make you laugh. If something wasn’t going well, she would brilliantly tease you and make you laugh. She loved her job. And she loved her children.”


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