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Kites will remember crew, passengers of Swissair crash

Susan Corkum-Greek
Lighthouse staff

 COUNTY - Martine Vermeulen loves to fly kites. And until last September, her favourite spot to indulge this passion was alongside the ocean.

 However, the crash of Swissair Flight 111 has changed Ms Vermeulen's once carefree perspective. "I can no longer look at the ocean without thinking of those 229 people," who were lost when the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic off East Ironbound Island, says the New York State resident, who summers in West Berlin. "When I have to take an airplane, I keep thinking of (them), . . . what they went through."

 Ms Vermeulen, who says she has "friends who take that flight all the time," has had both dreams and nightmares since the crash. In one dream, she saw 229 kites flying together along the shore. Waking, she decided to make that dream a reality.

 Ms Vermeulen contacted friend Marni Gent, a flight attendant who lives near Lunenburg. Like many in her industry, Ms Gent has also been affected by the Swissair crash.

 "There's not a day I don't go to the beach and look at the sea and think about those people. It's really had a long-term effect on most of us who fly," she says.

 Ms Gent agreed there should be some kind of community-based ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the crash September 2. While there will likely be an official service at Peggy's Cove, space will be limited, she says, and is best left for the victims' families.

 However, Ms Gent really became sold on the idea of the massive kite flying after accompanying Ms Vermeulen to the intended site, on Hirtle's Beach. "Martine has always talked about kites as being soul catchers and as I was standing there there was such a pull upward. It was really an incredible feeling."

 The pair have found a manufacturer in Parrsboro who will craft the 229 kites. "They're rectangular and very simple," says Ms Vermeulen, and will come in a multitude of colours. They are now looking for people interested in flying the kites, as well as contributions to cover the $8 per kite cost.

 Ms Vermeulen says the event will be as much a celebration of life as it will be a memorial. "We hope to get all of the different people who helped out (with the crash effort) involved," she says; everyone from ground search and rescue personnel to RCMP, ambulance attendants, fishermen "and the community who prayed."

 In particular, she's hoping local fishermen will agree to fly kites from their boats anchored offshore.

 The pair hope to have music, although they're still searching for a bagpiper at this point. They advise people to bring their own refreshments and weather protection.

 The event is slated for September 2 at 3 p.m. To ease congestion at the beach, there will be a shuttle bus service running from the parking lot of the Riverport Community Centre as well as those of the Lutheran and United Churches. The rain date would be September 3.

 For more information on the event, please call 902-354-7248 or e-mail pbyc@istar.ca Donations may also be mailed directly to Martine Vermeulen, #74, Route 1, Brooklyn, Queens Co., N.S. BOJ IHO.