Remembrance Week 2014 Part 3 of 4

When John Tummino arrived at the first meeting for this year’s Remembrance Scholars in August, he brought a Notre Dame hat that he got from his third-cousin, Wendy Giebler-Sefcik.

But, it was not just any hat. It was the hat that Giebler-Sefcik’s first husband, Jay Giebler, was wearing when terrorists bombed Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988. It was the hat that was found near Giebler when authorities found his body among the wreckage in Lockerbie, Scotland.

Bringing the hat to the Remembrance Scholars meeting stunned the whole group because none of the Scholars knew about the connection, said Tummino, a senior broadcast and digital journalism and political science dual major.

As soon as he showed the scholars the hat, “all sound sucked out of the room, like we were in a vacuum,” he said.

“It really served to ground us and say, ‘this is why we were here,’ because this hat traveled from that airplane to the ground and all the way and ended up here in Syracuse, and here we all are,” Tummino said. “It was almost a way to be like, ‘let’s remember who we’re doing this for.’”

On Friday, Giebler-Sefcik, who Tummino calls his aunt, will come to SU for the first time for Remembrance Week, which is held each year at SU to honor the 35 students who died in the bombing. As a Remembrance Scholar, Tummino represents Gretchen Dater, who was studying abroad through SU and died on Pan Am Flight 103.

Giebler-Sefcik had been married to Giebler for nine months before the bombing. Right after their wedding, they moved from New Jersey to London for work.

They planned to go back to New Jersey for the holidays, Giebler-Sefcik said. She had more vacation time than her husband, so she went back a week early to spend time with her family while Giebler stayed at work.

On Dec. 21, 1988, Giebler-Sefcik was at her sister’s house. Her sister turned on the television right at the moment when the news broke that the United States lost contact with Pan Am Flight 103.

“I knew at that minute that he was gone,” Giebler-Sefcik said. “I couldn’t imagine that he would be on TV if it wasn’t really, really bad.”

When the authorities contacted her and asked if she had any idea what Giebler was wearing on the flight, Giebler-Sefcik knew he had to be wearing the Notre Dame hat, she said.

Originally, it belonged to a friend. But when Giebler saw the hat, he had to have it, so he made a trade with his friend. Since then, Giebler always wore the hat in casual settings, including the duration of Pan Am Flight 103.

Eileen Tummino, John Tummino’s mother and Giebler-Sefcik’s second cousin, only met Giebler a few times before his death. Still, she remembers him as a nice person who drew people in. When she and the rest of the family found out what happened, they were numb.

“You’re in shock, you’re completely in shock,” she said. “So as a family, we just tried to quietly be there for each other, because some people react differently.”

Although the subject may seem too heavy for children to comprehend, the family never kept its connection to the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy a secret. Eileen Tummino said John grasped the concept more and started to ask questions about Giebler when he was 6 or 7 years old. They would talk about the tragedy and watch movies and documentaries about it.

For Tummino, the idea of becoming a Remembrance Scholar, however, ignited when he met Fergus Barrie his freshman year. Barrie was then a visiting scholar from Lockerbie. Barrie lobbied to stay at SU as a full-time student and through their friendship, Tummino learned what Lockerbie was like.

“I started to get involved in his life, and that brought Pan Am (Flight) 103 and Remembrance back into my life,” he said.

Ultimately, his personal connection with Pan Am Flight 103 became a big driving force in his decision to apply to be a Remembrance Scholar. As semi-distant as his connection is, it is an important one because he thinks not many people have a similar connection since it happened 26 years ago.

“Your nephew goes to the school where 35 kids died in the flight. I don’t see how I couldn’t apply. I kind of had to,” Tummino said.

Tummino applied, but he did not tell Giebler-Sefcik until he was accepted as a Remembrance Scholar. He was afraid of not being accepted, Giebler-Sefcik said, so he surprised her with the honor.

“I was so taken aback and so touched that he would even apply for this honor,” she said. “It really meant so much to me that he would honor my first husband and do that for us.”

As for the Notre Dame hat, Giebler-Sefcik wanted to donate the hat to the SU archives of Pan Am Flight 103, along with legislative documents and other personal items. She feels less attached to objects, she said, and felt good about letting go of those items. She cherishes Giebler’s memory in her heart.

Giebler-Sefcik had Tummino bring the items, including the hat, to SU. Tummino said it was incredible to hold the items, knowing where they had been.

“I almost didn’t feel worthy to hold something that like that,” he said. “It’s pretty sacred.”

Although Tummino has given the hat to the archives, he will still have part of Giebler with him on Friday during the Rose Laying Ceremony.

At the ceremony, he will lay a rose not only for the student he represents but for Giebler as well. Knowing that Giebler-Sefcik will be there, Tummino said it is the right thing to do.

“It comes to a full circle,” he said.

Published on October 22, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Ellen: ekmeyers@syr.edu | @ellenkmeyers