On the evening of July 17, 1996, two hundred and thirty passengers and crew boarded TWA Flight 800 at Kennedy International Airport in New York for Paris, France. Among them were sixteen students of the Montoursville Area High School French Club and their five adult chaperones. Shortly after takeoff, the flight exploded off the coast of Long Island and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, and all on board perished. The loss changed Montoursville forever, and people from the town and around the world responded with concern, sympathy, compassion, flowers, posters, cards, and other support, while blue and gold ribbons throughout the community became a sign of remembrance. On Sunday evening, July 21, 1996, a cloud in the form of an angel appeared above Montoursville High School, with twenty-one smaller white clouds at its feet, first in a circle and then in two straight rows, along with two small rainbows over the community. Many who witnessed the unusually calm sky and its dove-shaped cloud felt a calm inner peace, and as word spread, the angel became a symbol linking the community to those aboard the flight and, for many, a sign of the well-being of their loved ones.