Katherine Michel, chairman of the board of governors of the American College in Jerusalem, and her youngest son, Jeremiah, 9, died in the crash of the TWA airliner Sunday. They were returning to New York from Jerusalem when the airliner with 86 other persons aboard the Boeing 707 went down in the Ionian Sea off Greece shortly after leaving Athens Airport on the way to Rome.
Mrs. Michel, who was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was returning belatedly from a special mission to Jerusalem to remedy the college’s problems, according to Dr. Abraham Soltes, vice-chairman of the college’s board of governors. He described her work for the institution as one of unqualified loyalty and devotion. Dr. Soltes said Mrs. Michel came from a long line of educators. Her grandfather, Arthur Twining Hadley, was president of Yale University from 1899-1921, and her mother, Mrs. Morris Hadley, was chairman of the board of governors of Vassar College. According to Dr. Soltes, Mrs. Michel was a Protestant who converted to Judaism before she married and brought up her children according to religious law.
Meanwhile, the Athens coroner ruled out today the possibility of sabotage in the crash. He said post- mortems of some of the crash victims showed there had not been an in-flight explosion. Among the 88 killed were also two Israeli couples, Dr. Richard Katzman and his wife, Alida; and Ben Zion (Barry) Shai and his wife, Elisheva.
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