Media Watch
Date:October 23, 1998
Organization:The Halifax Herald (Lois Legge)
Title:Crash widow can't ever return to Peggys Cove
Word Count:937
Lyn Romano saw Peggys Cove for the last time Thursday.
The 44-year-old New York State woman had come back with her sister to the place where Raymond, her husband of 17 years - her teenage sweetheart and the father of her three children - died aboard Swissair Flight 111.
In an emotional telephone interview from her Halifax hotel room before the visit, Mrs. Romano said she would never return after Thursday. Peggys Cove, renowned for its scenery, can't be beautiful in her eyes.
"I just see the plane hit there. I don't see the pretty," she said, her voice trembling between tears.
"But I'm just so thankful if the plane had to go down, it didn't take any of the beautiful people that live in this country by crashing into a community. That's the only peace that I find here, not at Peggys Cove."
Mrs. Romano, who is going home to Goldens Bridge, N.Y., today, said she couldn't leave without thanking everyone who has offered a hand of support since the MD-11 plunged into the Atlantic on Sept.2, killing all 229 people aboard.
Her grief still raw during the interview, she often cried uncontrollably over the loss of a man she says she's loved for more than 25 years -"over half of my life."
She is also angry at what she calls the airline industry's failure to address safety concerns, including the type of wiring insulation aboard the MD-11. Some aviation experts say the wiring insulation is known to break down and spark fires.
Two types of airplane insulation blankets have also come under scrutiny since the crash, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration urged airlines last week to replace them with more heat-resistant materials.
But crash investigators say it's too early to peg the wiring insulation or anything else as the cause of the crash.
Mrs. Romano plans to sue Swissair but says she will never take a dime of the company's money for herself or her family.
"I am suing them because I fully intend to go after the airlines to implement safety and to get the God damned insulation out of those planes, because those people on that plane have to have died for a reason," she said, breaking into sobs.
"Whenever this lawsuit is settled, I've already made provisions that no one in my family will ever touch that money. I will not touch that money, my children won't. And when I die, it's going to be in my will to (go to) whatever thing we set up for airline safety.
"I don't care if it's $10 or $10 million, I will not use that money for myself."
Like other relatives of Swissair victims, Mrs. Romano, her 11- and nine-year old sons and grown daughter have been through a devastating ordeal, and it isn't over. Her husband's remains have yet to be identified but officials are hoping to do so through DNA analysis.
"I had to watch my 11-year-old son give his blood to identify his father, and that shouldn't be."
But she said she's not sure her boys have fully grasped what has happened.
"I mean, they kind of know but I don't think they're allowing themselves to. Maybe God just, maybe He does something and helps them ease their pain."
Mrs. Romano's pain is heightened by her own fears that something was going to happen to her husband - a partner in the worldwide accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick - when he left home for a business trip to Geneva.
Mrs. Romano is afraid of flying and asked her husband not to go.
"He said, 'Lyn, you can't stress about this all the time because you know flying statistics (say) it's safer than driving, and I'll see you Friday. I love you.'
"And when I put him in the limo, I told the limo driver (that) since flying was safer than driving, (to) get him to the airport in one piece," she said, pausing and breaking down. "But he's not in one piece anymore."
Despite her intense grief, Mrs. Romano has been helping other families. She calls CFB Shearwater every day for updated information on how many victims have been identified and for news on the aircraft salvage effort. She posts the information on a Web site for families.
"They can't do it and I have to do that for them," she said.
Mrs. Romano said she's grateful to all Nova Scotians who have tried to help her cope, and she wants to thank them publicly.
"I need to name people who have been so wonderful to me," she said. "(RCMP officers) Brad Reid ... Ian Black, (Al) Mann, Mike Dundon, who works for my husband's firm up here in Halifax, and Ward Skinner, who also is employed with KPMG, the hotel staff at the Lord Nelson. ... I need the people in this country to know what wonderful, wonderful people they have here.
"Just everybody ... that I've come in contact with, from the customs agent to the coffee shop, even before they know anything, I mean, you should be so proud of your country."
Mrs. Romano also appreciates the $25,000 that mostly Nova Scotia corporations and individuals have donated to the Red Cross.
Some donors have requested the money go to families, others have earmarked it for fishermen and others who helped after the crash.
A committee has been formed to assess how to distribute the relief fund, which is expected to grow to as much as $40,000.
But Mrs. Romano said she can't take any money.
"I want that to go to somebody ... who really needs it."