By Courtney Dentch
Hundreds of people packed an emotional funeral service last Thursday for Kelvin DeBourgh, Jr., the 23-year-old train operator killed in the AirTrain derailment at Kennedy Airport.
More than 600 relatives, friends and co-workers filled St. Mary Magdalene Roman Catholic Church in Springfield Gardens to bid farewell to the ambitious, responsible young man they knew as “Chris.”
The service was marked by prayers, psalms and hymns read and sung by DeBourgh’s friends and family but broken with tears.
DeBourgh’s mahogany casket, shrouded in a white cloth embroidered with a cross, was placed in the center of the sanctuary. Floral arrangements, some in shapes that honored DeBourgh’s hobbies, such as the roses that formed a music record, were set about the church.
“Chris was often described as ambitious, considerate and an extremely responsible young man,” according to the memorial pamphlet. “He was loved and will be missed dearly.”
DeBourgh, a Springfield Gardens resident, died from injuries he sustained when the three-car AirTrain vehicle he was driving derailed during a test run at Kennedy Airport. DeBourgh was crushed by weights that were being used to simulate a passenger load, and he had blunt impact injuries to his legs and lower torso.
The National Transportation Safety Board is taking the lead on the investigation into what caused the crash, while the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, and Bombardier, the company that manufactured the AirTrain fleet, also are probing the accident.
The investigation could take a year or more, the NTSB has said.
The AirTrain light-rail system is designed to link Kennedy Airport with public transportation service at downtown Jamaica and Howard Beach. The system was supposed to start shuttling passengers to Howard Beach this fall and to Jamaica in the spring. No new opening date has been set for either line.
That was of little concern to the mourners at DeBourgh’s funeral, however. Officials from the Port Authority and Bombardier joined the family and friends at the service, including Bombardier President Patrice Pelletier. About a dozen Bombardier employees who work in New Jersey also attended, although they never knew DeBourgh.
“We came because he was a co-worker,” said one employee, who asked that his name not be used. “In life anything can happen. This could have happened to one of us.”
As the service came to a close, DeBourgh’s distraught mother Bernadine fell on her son’s casket, weeping and hugging it.
The diversity of the mourners, which included a large number of DeBourgh’s peers, was a testament to the kind of person DeBourgh was and how well loved he was, one man said.
“He was a very decent guy,” he said. “That’s why there’s such a mix of people here.”
In addition to his mother, DeBourgh is survived by his father, Kelvin Sr., and his 11-month-old daughter, Avion. He was buried after the funeral at St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
