Tim Cardwell, sports enthusiast, musician, actor, theater technician, soldier, was one of the 35 Syracuse students who perished on Pan Am Flight 103. A junior at Syracuse University in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Tim’s broad range of interests bears testimony to his versatility. He was survived by his parents, Anthony and Barbara of Cresco, Pennsylvania, a brother, Michael, a sister-in-law and his maternal grandmother.
He graduated from Keystone Junior College, which he had attended on a Presidential Scholarship. In 1987, while at Keystone he was captain of the soccer team and was a member of the wrestling team and karate club. He also sang in the chorus and worked with the theater group. He received the Best Actor Award in 1987. At SU he was a member of the Hendricks Chapel Choir. He was an Army ROTC Scholarship winner, a member of the ROTC Ranger Challenge team, and a Sergeant in the 403rd Army Reserve National Guard at Syracuse. He had completed the Army ROTC Camp Challenge program at Fort Knox in Kentucky in 1987 and the Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1988. Tim was posthumously awarded an Army Commendation Medal.
A former drama teacher of Tim’s explains his exuberant personality: “When I think of Tim, the word energy springs out at me. He never walked; he ran. He didn’t whisper, he shouted. And there was always a sense of a barely controlled force with him, like the caged strength of a young leopard.”
His parents describe him: “Tim’s to excel physically, mentally and spiritually. He loved life, his family, his county and his God, and strove to be the best whether he was on stage, behind stage, jumping out of airplanes or rappelling down a cliff. The song in his heart always showed through as a broad smile on his face.”