gnmattwili Sato
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Clearance
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Orchard Lake Rd. N. of Maple
West Bloomfield
851-5560
Prices slashed
for this great event
Gr eg
SHOES
"Serving the community for 38 years"
Heirs:
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Tues. & Wed. 10-8
Thurs. 10-9
Sat. 10-6 • RONA 2-5
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10
6885 Orchard Lake Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48322
On The Boardwalk • (810) 737-2333
AFTERNOON
page 8
where one of her favorite activi-
ties was going to the zoo. In the
summer of 1990 her parents
moved to Rochester Hills.
On July 1, 1990, the family
headed off for a picnic. Near the
Baldwin Road exit on 1-75 the
car broke down. Mr. Grossman
pulled onto the shoulder. He
set the hood up, then walked to
the nearest gas station while his
wife and daughter waited with
the car.
"Pamela was crying because
she thought we wouldn't be able
to have our picnic," Ms. Zeitman
recalls. So the two sat outside on
a red-and-white tablecloth up on
the embankment, a distance from
the car.
Moments later, the Rev. Denis
McMahon, who was late for an
appointment, was driving by
at 75 miles an hour. He pulled
onto the shoulder in an effort
to bypass traffic in the right
lane. Ahead of him was the
Grossmans' stalled car.
Apparently, he decided to try and
drive around it.
Pamela and her mother had
just finished their cookies and
were drinking lemonade when
Ms. Zeitman heard a horn blow.
A second later, the Rev.
McMahon's car smashed into Ms.
Zeitman, hitting her leg and
throwing her to the side.
Pamela stood up and turned
toward the sound of the horn. The
driver ran over her.
A passerby with a car phone
called the police. Someone else
went to get Mr. Grossman. An
ambulance arrived to take
Pamela to the hospital. Her par-
ents followed behind in a police
car.
Pamela lived for 26 hours.
At the time of the accident, the
Rev. McMahon was serving with
St. Pius X in Warren. The church
was part of a traditionalist move-
ment that parted with the main-
stream Catholic Church following
Vatican II.
The movement was spear-
headed by Archbishoi3 Marcel
Lefebre of France, who before
World War II was associated with
the extreme right-wing political
group Action Francaise. He op-
posed such Vatican II changes as
the removal of the Latin mass.
(Vatican II also included liberal-
izing attitudes toward Jews.)
Richard Laskos, public rela-
tions specialist for the
Archdiocese of Detroit, said the
Rev. McMahon and St. Pius X are
"not affiliated with the
Archdiocese or the Roman
Catholic Church in any way,
shape or form."
On Oct. 30, 1990, the Rev.
McMahon — who had 10 previ-
ous speeding tickets — pleaded
no contest to manslaughter in the
Grossman case.
The judge sentenced the Rev.
McMahon to two to 15 years in
jail, with parole possible after 19
months. At the sentencing, Mr.
Grossman offered the following
remarks:
Pamela loved to read, and was
reading at about the fourth-grade
level. She liked science and math-
ematics and wanted to under-
stand everything. She was
fascinated by foreign languages
and was keeping a notebook with
words in Spanish, French and
German in it.
She enjoyed physical things,
too, especially riding her two-
wheel bicycle which she had mas-
tered the previous summer, and
jumping rope, which she had
mastered this past spring. In
short, Pamela was the best of all
possible kids, starting out on what
was supposed to be a wonderful
life, full of promise.
Though he has served his time
in the death of Pam-la Grossman,
the Rev. McMahon's troubles are
not over. While out on the elec-
tronic tether in 1992, he alleged-
ly sexually abused a woman he
was counseling.
Four months ago in October,
Carla Page filed suit in Macomb
County Circuit Court, charging
the priest with sexual assault and
battery. One month later, the
Rev. MacMahon filed a counter-
suit in the case. No trial date has
been set.
The Rev. MacMahon, mean-
while, said he is "profoundly sor-
ry" for what happened to Pamela
Grossman. "This has marked my
life," he said. "I will never forget
what happened to Pamela and
I'm just terribly sorry."
fter their daughter's death,
Mr. Grossman and Ms.
Zeitman found some solace
with a group of other par-
ents whose children died.
"We know we're not the only
people to whom this has hap-
pened," Ms. Zeitman says. 'There
are people out there whose lives
have been destroyed, then (the
killer) serves almost no time in
prison."
The Grossmans have chosen
to memorialize their daughter in
several ways.
They commissioned artist
William Allen to create a sculp-
ture of the Galapagos tortoise,
which was dedicated in 1993 in
Pamela's memory at the zoo.
Since Pamela's death, Ms.
Zeitman has completely changed
her outlook on life. There is no
longer that kind of gentle hope
that everything will turn out all
right in the end, that good is
around every corner and that life,
despite its ups and downs, is re-
ally some kind of marvelous jour-
ney.
"Now, it's like there's a hole in
the world," Ms. Zeitman says.
"And nothing will ever be the
same." 0
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