One year after deadly Potomac plane crash, Boston honors figure skating victims
It's been one year since American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., killing 67 people including half a dozen members of the local figure skating community.
Christine Conrad Lane, Spencer Lane, Jin Han, Jinna Han, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were remembered in a public event at Boston Common Frog Pond on Thursday, with a second event scheduled for City Rink in Providence on Friday.
Other efforts are also seeking to honor victims of the tragedy, including in Barrington, where town and state leaders are in the process of trying to name a new dog park after Christine Conrad Lane, who had a passion for helping animals.
Doug Lane, Christine's husband and Spencer's father, has been crucial in the effort.
The dog park, located at Haines Memorial State Park, has been operating on a temporary basis, but approval was recently granted to make it a permanent park.
Ashlee Cabral, President of Friends of the Barrington Dog Park, said between new fencing and other upgrades, it's expected to cost about $50,000 to upgrade the dog park into a permanent park.
"The dog park community will definitely rally, we're going to have rescue people involved, and just other friends and acquaintances of Doug, so that way, it'll be a really good community effort," Cabral said. "She definitely was an advocate for animals, and it was great."
Doug recently spoke at an event in Washington, D.C. about staying resilient in the face of the adversity this past year has brought.
"Through that, we have realized that while we were powerless in that moment to help our loved ones, we were not powerless to help each other, and that's what we did, and we've been doing that ever since," Lane said.
Friday's remembrance event at City Rink in Providence will take place from 6 to 6:30 p.m.
Lane is scheduled to speak at the event, along with a performance by Will Annis, a National Team skater and friend of Spencer Lane and Jinna Han.
