Friends, Families Meet to Mark Anniversary of Cerritos Air Disaster

Among so many others, John Ackerman sat and remembered that hot summer day one year ago when Aeromexico Flight 498 fell from the sky and killed his friend, Javier Estrada.

Ackerman, a student at Cerritos High School, was one of more than 300 mourners who gathered Sunday in the wooden pews of the New Life Community Church in Artesia to somberly mark the first anniversary of the Cerritos air crash that killed 67 people in the air and 15 on the ground.

During the hourlong service, the stark images of the crash were fresh on Ackerman’s mind. They mingled with memories of better times spent with Javier--the parties they attended, the long talks they used to have.

“I still think of how my friend died and the pain he went through,” Ackerman said.

‘Something Good and Noble’

For many who attended, the memorial service was a chance to sit with each other and reflect on the thoughts and worries that have weighed on the community for the last year.

“Let us resolve that something good and noble can come from us as we strive to heal the memories,” said the Rev. Doug Warners of the First Christian Reformed Church in Artesia.

Warners was one of five area pastors who spoke during the service, sponsored by the Cerritos Valley Clergy Assn. and the city of Cerritos. As the pastors spoke, families sat silently with heads bowed. Dozens of students from Cerritos High School sat together, some fighting back tears as hymns were played on a pipe organ.

‘A Mighty Fortress’

Toward the end of the service, community members joined hands and sang “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Afterward, many of them walked next door to the church’s multipurpose center, where they talked more freely about their memories of Aug. 31, 1986, and of how they have rebuilt their lives.

Rev. Herb Carson of the Cerritos Valley Baptist Church said some survivors from the crash site attended the service and the meeting afterward. Others stayed away, he said, preferring to mark the anniversary in their own way.

One student, Jennifer Newton, 16, of Cerritos, attended out of an urge to be with friends. “People need to be together at least this one time,” she said. “I feel closer to everyone. Just to be there for my friends and my family, to let them know I care.”

The Rev. Donald R. Koepke of St. John Lutheran Church in Cerritos told those assembled that each time he drives through the neighborhood, he remembers the barricades, the fire trucks, the cloud of smoke pouring into the sky. The survivors will never be free of those memories, he said.

“Time will let people remember in a new way that will affirm their caring and their hope for the future,” he said. Sunday’s memorial service was the community’s effort to mark the anniversary of the air tragedy. A second service has been scheduled for Oct. 10 and 11 to remember the family of Howard Yackytooanipah. He, his wife, two daughters and two other members of his family perished when part of the DC-9 jetliner slammed into his house.