Monday marks 20th anniversary of fateful crash that claimed local lives

POLAND

The Ricchiuti and Rubino families will gather at 7:04 p.m. Monday at the cemetery where Anthony and Paula (Rubino) Rich are buried to remember the young couple killed 20 years ago in the crash of USAir Flight 427.

The families get together each year at that precise moment to say a prayer and share a moment of silence — and wonder what might have been, said Rose Rubino of Poland, Paula’s mother.

“We laugh, and we cry,” said Phyllis Ricchiuti, Anthony’s mother.

Coming from Chicago, Flight 427 crashed in Hopewell, Pa., shortly after 7 p.m. just seven miles from landing at Pittsburgh International Airport. All 127 passengers and five crew members were killed, including Anthony and Paula and their unborn child.

Anthony and Paula, of North Yarmouth, Maine, both formerly of Poland, were returning home from visiting the Rubino family’s village in Italy with Paula’s parents, Fernando (Fred) and Rose Rubino, when the two couples got separated for the flight home.

The Rubinos flew home on TWA, but TWA wouldn’t accept the Riches’ tickets and they came back on Flight 427. Ironically Anthony, a commercial pilot, flew for USAir.

He always told me: “‘Mom, if I ever die in a plane crash, you’ll know I died happy,’” Phyllis Ricchiuti said.

Anthony’s parents, Dr. Robert and Phyllis, said they went back to their ancestral name, Ricchiuti, because Anthony and Paula had discussed making that change.

Though tempered by time, their loss remains fresh in the minds of the Ricchiutis and Rubinos.

Read more about that fateful day, how the families are coping today and the annual fundraiser they have organized in their children's honor in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.