Pam's Playground
In Memory of Pamela Lynn Posen
1968 - 1988
 |
 |
 |
While exploring our new neighborhood, my kids and I discovered this fantastic playground behind the Harrison Avenue School in Harrison, NY. We had become playground connoisseurs, always on the lookout for bigger, better, and more fun places to play. This playground was one of the best we had ever seen!
We decided to stop to let the kids burn off some of that endless kid energy. While they played, I looked around at the amazing assortment of playground equipment. It was then that I noticed something out of place amidst the climbing toys. I walked over to the stone and brass marker and was stunned by its terrible inscription:
Pam was tragically killed by a terrorist bomb on Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. Her incredible warmth, sensitivity, contagious laughter, youthful spirit, and love of life touched us all. She will forever live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved her.
Although I didn't know Pam or her family, I was overwhelmed with sorrow for her senseless death. She was only 20, just entering the prime of her life. I decided to try to find out more about her. I did a search on the Internet and found almost no information about her except for her name listed on the Pan Am 103 Passenger List. Because there was no further information about her there, I decided to create this small memorial page in 1999. The page was significantly revised in September, 2002.
Unlike monotonous monuments and soulless statues, Pam's Playground is a celebration of life, a living gift to the children of her home town. It is one of the most creative and useful memorials I have ever seen. I would like to thank her family for this inspired gift. I cannot imagine the grief they must feel over Pam's loss, but I hope that they take a small measure of comfort in the joy they have given to the children who love Pam's Playground, and in the realization that Pam and the other victims of this and other cowardly acts of terrorism will not be forgotten.
When I created my original Pam's Page, I knew nothing about Pam or why she had the misfortune to be a passenger on flight 103. I have since learned that Pam was a Boston University student returning home from a semester of study in London. She was described as "beautiful", "popular", "fun loving", and "athletic", although perhaps "not the best student". Nevertheless, she planned to graduate from Boston University in the Spring of 1989; instead she died over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988, just one month before her 21st birthday.
This information was provided by people who knew Pam Posen. I think that the letters are very touching and worth reading. I promised the correspondents anonymity, so I removed personal information and changed their names, before posting the letters.
I also learned that Pam's family has set up several scholarship funds, including the "Pammy Fund" and the "Pamela Posen Memorial Fund". The latter is a scholarship program which financially assists students from Boston University who cannot otherwise afford to spend a semester of study overseas. For more information, write to:
The Pammy Fund
Westchester Community Foundation
470 Mamaroneck Ave. Suite 304
White Plains, NY 10605
Email me if you have any comments about this page, or if you have any information to share about Pam.