The title date is significant for reasons that I have rarely shared with anyone, but it marked the first time in my life that I realized none of us are fully in control of when we leave the Earth. It was a Saturday night and I was in grade 7. I was home, with my parents and younger sister, but before the weekend was out, I received a shocking phone call that a girl I went to middle school with had been struck and killed by a hit and run driver.
In my hometown of Salem, NH there is a bowling alley on Rte. 28 right on the town line of Salem/Windham called Park Place Lanes. In 1986, it was called Sandy’s. Many of us used to go there and bowl from time to time. On this particular evening, some people from school were there, some I knew pretty well and some that I didn’t. (Remember junior high cliques?). Around 7:30 pm, a group of kids were leaving and walked across the busy road which was full of slow moving traffic. Without warning, a blue car came speeding up and struck a young lady named Michelle, killing her at age 13. The car whipped into the bowling alley parking lot, and then sped out, going north, never to be seen again. As I write this 36 years later, the person or people in the car have never been caught. Some years later, Michelle’s friend Amy, who I knew better, took her own life. Someone called me Sunday, the 19th to tell me what had happened and I couldn’t believe it. Michelle was in a different homeroom from me down the hall, but one of her best friends (Jackie) was in mine. When we got into school Monday, there was already a long line outside the guidance office, and kids crying. When we had a moment of silence during the morning announcements, Jackie ran crying from the room. We had no classes that day, well, none that were structured anyway. The entire 7th grade was numb, because……young people aren’t supposed to die. What a hard time the whole week was: everyone in the class was given an opportunity to order a copy of Michelle’s school picture, a bunch of us were dismissed a few days later during school to walk about a mile and a half during the day to attend the wake, and the teachers, though comforting, didn’t really know what to do either. I will also never forget Michelle’s parents coming in days or maybe a week later to clean out her locker. All the lockers in that hallway were skinny, metal, and orange with a larger compartment above them. I can see that image, clear as day as I type this.
Anyone living in Salem now is likely aware of Michelle Memorial Park behind Mary Queen of Peace Church, which is named for Michelle Iannacchino, the young lady who was taken way too soon. Each year around this time, I think about this girl that I only spoke with in school a couple of times. Like me, she would be in her late 40’s now, with a career, likely a family and kids of her own. While writing this, I found an article that provides almost no closure to the family as the driver has still not been found. Whoever you are out there, if you are still there….I don’t know how you can possibly live with yourself.
Life went and goes on for the rest of us who became the Salem High School Class of 1991, but I am sure we all remember Michelle in our own way from time to time. I drive by the bowling alley every so often on my was out of town and I always say a little prayer when I pass. At this time of year January is very cold in New Hampshire and I also think of the lesson I learned from briefly having Michelle in my life: No one knows THE BIG PLAN. Take advantage of each day and each opportunity you have with everyone who comes into your life. Rest In Peace Michelle Iannacchino 1972-1986, we wish you were here.
Patrick moeschen 
Michelle and I were good friends when she was at St Joes 3rd- 5th grade. She was on my bus. We had had sleepovers together often. I will never forget when all us St Joe’s kids found out. The day of the funeral they let us go as it was at St Joes. I remember after they sent us right to class. I was in Ms Driscolls ( Mrs Simiri) Social Studies class sobbing ugly tears. It was awful. She was buried in the North Salem cemetery. I would go and visit her grave often. Losing a friend that young is hard. I remember years ago they reopened her case and hoped they would have some new leads. I always think about her on birthday, Oct 16th.
This still makes me terribly sad!!!I went to her wake like most kids that day.I remember walking there holding her school photo!!!!I can see her still and it haunts me!!it does!!!maybe I was to immature to be going to a wake but it was a different time then.we needed to go,it moved all of us in our small little town!It was so tragic and it did change me!it made me more aware less carefree.I think of her from time to time when I think of home and this time of year for sure.thank you for posting this memory!may she continue to Rest In Peace.and may some day Justice be served for who ever so carelessly took her life!!!!
As a teacher it was devastating… I remember walking the students up to the wake… for most if not all it was probably their first… they were scared… I was trying to explain what to expect… what to do… and just be there to hold their hands and hug them… How someone can live with that on their conscience is beyond me… and we don’t know when our time will come…so hold on tight and make every day count.
Thanks, Pat, for sharing your memories of that day. It hit me hard, too. Michele was in my homeroom that seventh grade year. She truly had a larger-than-life presence. I remember her infectious laughter (often causing her to fall out of her desk chair and onto the floor in the middle of study hall.) In a classroom of big personalities, she stood out, but always in a positive way. And then she was just gone.
I was new to the schools that year, so I wasn’t even in a clique yet. I learned of what happened on Monday morning as I walked into the Woodbury cafeteria, crowded with sobbing classmates.
I commend the efforts of the Woodbury faculty and support staff during those trying times. It was the first time I saw a school drop all of its other plans so it could meet the emotional needs of its student body. That is a lesson I carry with me today as an educator who works with teens on a daily basis.
I will never forget this experience either. It was shocking! Sadly the kids these days deal with so much of this with school shootings, suicide rates skyrocketing and drug overdoses. We were just kids! Michelle was a child and , as a parent myself now, I can not imagine the pain her parents and rest of her family went through. They lost their baby and that is just tragic 😦 I didn’t really know Michelle personally either but it didn’t matter. She was a fellow classmate and it was a very sad time. Horrible that her poor parents still have no answers or closure on this. Karma will get the driver of that car if it hasn’t already and if not, we all know where they will be headed when their time to go is here. Hope you are living peacefully with our creator Michelle!
Thank you for sharing, Pat. It was definitely a moment that rocked our very young lives. As a St. Joe’s transfer I had known Michelle for years and will ever forget her bubbly personality and her infectious laugh. I don’t think there has been a single time that I haven’t thought about her and that night when driving by that bowling alley. Her short life gave all of us some perspective.
I worked with her mom. No answers to this say and that’s the worst part. I’m not sure how one can go about their lives knowing they cut one short.
I remember Michelle some as I was a grade ahead of her. I was the captain of the Cross Country team for the fall of 1985 and Michelle was on the team. I also remember hearing of her death and thinking I was just running with her a few months prior. I don’t know why as I didn’t know her too well but I find myself checking the internet every so often in the hopes that maybe they finally caught whoever did this. RIP……….