For the past 20 years on Thanksgiving weekend, Nancy and Russ Henkin have hosted brunch for Todd and his longtime school friends. “When they scattered to college, we thought we could be a meeting place,” says Russ. “I'm the family cook, and I made a deal with Todd that, if he could get them together, the boys could dictate a menu.”
It's a raucous, diverse group. One owns a pretzel factory, another is a dean at Princeton University. There's a lawyer, an environmentalist—Todd is a musician and an English-literacy teacher. They debate a gamut of topics. No subject—or opinion—is off-limits.
But there's never been a single mention of the crash.
Six of them first met at Merion Elementary School, where a tragic midair collision took seven lives 25 years ago this April 4, killing two first-grade girls, four pilots, and Sen. John Heinz, a Pennsylvania Republican who may have gone on to become governor or even president. A second-grade boy survived, despite burns over 80 percent of his body.
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