Services Held for County Man Killed in Jet Bombing

Anger, love and forgiveness were the themes Friday at the memorial service for Jerry Avritt, a flight engineer on the Pan American World Airways jumbo jet that was destroyed by a terrorist’s bomb over Scotland before Christmas.

“Yes, anger,” said Steve Mills, a 10-year friend of Avritt and fellow Pan Am flight engineer, speaking to about 200 of Avritt’s friends and relatives who had gathered from around the country for the service in Westminster.

“We need to band together, to strive together for freedom from fear,” said Mills, who called Avritt a “soldier in the battle against terrorism who shall not have died in vain.”

Judy Avritt and her two teen-age children, Marcus and Angela, sat composed throughout the 90-minute Catholic service at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Westminster. A dozen Christmas trees with small nectarine-colored lights framed the altar.

There were muffled sobs in the pews as tearful speakers remembered Avritt, 46, one of 259 passengers and crew aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when it crashed in Scotland, killing at least 11 others on the ground.

There was no casket at Friday’s service.

Anger Harshest Emotion

The remains of only 10 American victims of the disaster have been released by authorities in Lockerbie, Scotland, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said Friday. Avritt’s was not among them.

Anger, not revenge, was the harshest emotion expressed Friday against Avritt’s unknown killers.

And Avritt’s brother-in-law, Jerry Nibler, sounded a note of forgiveness, his voice breaking as he first tried to speak.

“The morality of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth doesn’t work,” Nibler said. “To continue along this way is only going to (lead to) more of us attending funerals (of) people cut down in the cross fire of misunderstanding. The real test is to love your enemy.”

Judy Avritt was consoled by friends and family on the church steps after the service.

“If it’s ever going to end, it can’t end with hatred,” Nibler said as he comforted his sister in the bright winter sunshine.

“I think she would agree with me 100%,” he said of Judy Avritt. “We certainly don’t have animosity toward anybody. To exact revenge is not the way.”

Judy Avritt and her children stepped into a waiting car without speaking to reporters.

A longtime Pan Am flight engineer, Avritt was returning to the United States on Flight 103 so he could link up with his family in Westminster for a family Christmas trip to Portland, Ore.

He was based in New York City and flew transatlantic routes to Europe for Pan Am, commuting home to Westminster on his free days to be with his family.

Kelly Kappen, a Westminster neighbor of Avritt for 16 years, remembered him as a loving family man and a close friend.

“He flew all the time, yet what he talked about was taking his family on vacations,” Kappen said. The last time the two men spoke, Kappen said, Avritt spoke of “soon retiring so he could spend more time with his family.”

Born in Lebanon, Ky., a town near Louisville, Avritt came to California when he was about 12, his wife said last week. The couple met in 1966 while he was going to Northrop Institute in Inglewood. They were married a few years later.

Madeleine Uribe, 41, of Fountain Valley, a childhood friend of Judy Avritt, said before the service that her friend “does not want to have hate in her heart. She wanted all along to give a message toward peace and not hatred.”

During an impassioned eulogy, Uribe’s husband, Mario, addressed the Avritt family in the front pew, his words punctuated by shudders. Near tears, he tried to collect himself.

“If I could have one last talk with him,” said Mario Uribe, “Jerry would say, ‘Judy, carry on. Mark and Angie, carry on. Mark and Angie, be the best you can be.’ That’s what he would want.”

Closing, Uribe choked in grief for an instant, then said, “Jerry, I’m going to miss you. We’re all going to miss you. May God love you.”

Father Bill Vohsing, who led the services, said the family has asked that donations in Jerry Avritt’s name be made to Children International in Kansas City, Mo., an international exchange program through which the Avritts had been host to two foreign students.