Polish Town in mourning after crash kills president

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO
St. Isidore’s R.C. Catholic Church in Riverhead’s Polish Town
neighborhood.

The American and Polish flags outside St. Isidore’s Catholic Church in Polish Town were lowered to half staff Saturday after news of the plane crash that claimed the life of Polish President Lech Kaczynski reached Riverhead.
The president, his wife and 96 others including top military leaders were aboard the doomed flight to a memorial service in Russia. Their plane crashed in heavy fog in western Russia early Saturday.
There were no survivors.
“Just such an unbelievable, tragic occurrence for the families, people and the country of Poland,” said Irene Pendzick, founding president of the Polish Town Civic Association and frequent traveler to Poland. “So many top government people are gone and it’s going to create a tremendous vacuum in their government,” she said. “All the people in the United States hearts go out to the Polish people for their loss.”
Authorities are investigating the crash.
Riverhead Town boasts one of the largest and most concentrated populations of Polish-Americans on Long Island.

For more coverage see the April 15 edition of the News-Review.