Christmas Night on the Farm by Maria Hoskins

He died on American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed just after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979. Robert 'Bob' Artz, executive director of the Illinois Association of Park Districts in Springfield, is shown in a photo circa 1979. What I didn’t realize until the (memorial’s) dedication was there were families there who lost up to five family members at once. My father was heartbroken over losing two loved ones and committed suicide in 1997. My mom was in remission from breast cancer and three months after the accident her cancer came back and she passed away in 1981. The devastation of the accident affected my family way beyond 1979. I remember she had just bought a new Pontiac Firebird and I went with her to sign the papers and bring it home. She was studying to be a nurse at South Suburban College at the time of the accident and needed a break from school and the heartbreak of the wedding being called off. She was a sweet and beautiful sister who had many friends. We ended up in church on the 2nd of June for Kathy - for her funeral. They were Gail DeCastro and Rhonda DeYoung, who also perished.

To take her mind off the wedding, my mom talked her into going to Hawaii with two other friends. “Kathy was supposed to get married and the date was set for June 2 of that year, but it was called off.

(Photo submitted by her brother, Michael Adduci) (HANDOUT) She died on American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed just after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport on May 25, 1979. Kathleen Adduci, shown here standing up in a friend's wedding, circa 1979.

Christmas Night on the Farm by Maria Hoskins