Berit Pavloff, 1990

Berit Naess was born in Norway in 1939. She emigrated to the United States in October 1951, aboard the Stavangerfjord, from Oslo, Norway to New York City, New York. She was aged 12 years and had traveled with 37-year-old Gudrun Naess, possibly her mother. They were bound for an address in Hazel Park, Michigan. Berit was naturalized as a United States citizen in 1957. In 1960, she was a student at the University of Michigan, where she was living in Hunt House, an all-women section of South Quad, one of the dormitories on campus. Berit was married to Louis Pavloff, a first-generation American born in Michigan to parents who were natives of Greece. They had at least one child, a daughter, Kia Pavloff.

I first met Mrs. Pavloff in the winter of 1990, when I was a member of her creative writing class at Avondale High School. We wrote a lot of poetry, but I believe there were also assignments where we wrote short stories and probably other forms of writing. We were involved in a pilot program in which we shared some of our original poetry online - one of the first programs of its kind, as the internet was new then. Unfortunately I have no record of the name of the program or any of the poems I wrote. I spent a lot of time with my rhyming dictionary that semester. My time in Mrs. Pavloff's class was also colored by a class period we spent with two Japanese teachers who spent a week (possibly two?) visiting our school in an effort to study American schooling and teaching. They were a lot of fun. I remember them teaching us the numbers 1-10 in Japanese and then the whole class worked on writing haikus in the classical form - the correct number of syllables, the correct number of lines, and always with a "natural world" theme.

I only had Mrs. Pavloff as a teacher for one semester, so I didn't know her very well. We had fun in her class, which was in any case an elective. She was a good teacher.

Detroit Free Press, 10 December 2001.

"A day before Thomas Pecorelli left for Boston in early September he saw his first, and last, ultrasound photo. The proud expectant father took the photo to work and showed it too coworkers. He took it on his trip to Boston, where he attended a friend's wedding. And when Pecorelli boarded American Airlines Flight 11 on Sept. 11 to return home, the picture was tucked inside his wallet. He didn't know at the time, but the picture was that of a son he will never know. Pecorelli was aboard the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. It seems unlikely that a class of students at Avondale High School in Auburn Hills - hundreds of miles from Pecorelli's Boston roots and California home - have banded together to ensure a bright future for that child-to-be. The senior American Experiences class formed a record company to produce and market a one-song CD - the proceeds of which will benefit a scholarship fund. They were inspired because Pecorelli is the son-in-law of Berit Pavloff, an Avondale teacher. Her loss, and that of her daughter Kia Pavloff-Pecorelli, brought the Sept. 11 tragedy "close to home for us," said DeAnna Wilkins, 17. Pavloff-Pecorelli, 35, now six months pregnant, is astounded by the project and the effect it has had on her. "Through their efforts and goodwill, it's given me additional strength to go on and to realize that good is going to prevail over this," said Pavloff-Pecorelli, who is living temporarily with her parents in Ferndale, where she grew up and attended school. Pecorelli, 30, was a cameraman for E! Entertainment Television and Fox Sports Net. He was returning to Los Angeles and his home in Topanga Canyon, Calif. Pecorelli had extended his trip by a day so he could visit his ailing father. It was a typical gesture for a man who cared deeply for his family. "He touched so many people. He took the time to really listen to people and to connect with them on a different level," Pavloff-Pecorelli said. Though he spent much of his career working behind the camera, Pecorelli also had on-camera aspirations. He worked briefly as a sports reporter in Florida. And he made cameo appearances on the E! show "Talk Soup." He also had been involved in the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improvisational troupe. It was her husband's love of the arts that makes the CD project more special for Pavloff-Pecorelli. "He would have been just very proud that the community reached out in that way," she said. The Avondale project has taught students about teamwork and unity. But more importantly, it has given them hope and helped them cope with the aftermath of the attacks. Which is why teacher Rick Shelley brought the idea to them. "What I wanted to do was help the kids respond directly" to the tragedy, said Shelley, who teaches the class with Jodi Berger. Berit Pavloff, the senior project coordinator at Avondale High, said it's important for the students to feel there was something they could do. "There's a lot of anxiety and this gives them a positive thing to do," she said. "We All kind of felt helpless about the whole situation," said Genna Cowsert, 17. "It was a way we could help." Shelley wrote the song "Angel" in June 2000 in response to school shootings. "The song, by nature, is about trying to find help when you lose someone you live," Shelley said. "It's so real," said Heather Greenwood, 17. "Everyone can identify with that." The project has extended beyond the Avondale High community. Shelley's band, The Euphorias, worked with the school's choir to record the song. Dan Hazlett, a friend of Shelley, donated time at his Waterford studio, Home Street Studios. Shelley found a company that burned the CDs cheaply and quickly. When it was sung for a recent districtwide benefit concert, with the choir holding lighted candles and an American flag in the background, the crowd became emotional, Shelley said. "Every time I sing or hear that song I cry," said Wilkins, who sings with the school choir. "It has a peaceful theme. It helps people deal with tragedy," Cowsert said. By the time the concert was over, the first shipment of 200 CDs was sold out. A new shipment of 100 more CDs came in last week, but most of them were already accounted for. Another shipment will have to be ordered, Shelley said. Students say they are proud to have been part of the project, and to have an impact on the future of Pavloff-Pecorelli's expected child. "That baby is going to have a good college education. I think it's going to be important for him to know that all these people came together to help him," Wilkins said. Pavloff-Pecorelli had planned to take the trip to Boston with her husband, but it was early in the pregnancy and she didn't want to take any chances. She backed out at the last minute. She's gone through the typical "I should have been there," to the "Maybe I wasn't meant to be there" thoughts. She's had to deal with survivor guilt. But being pregnant has offered a source of strength. "There's some kind of primitive instinct that comes over. You have to go on and continue. You have to find the silver lining."

The New York Times, date in 2002 unknown.

THOMAS NICHOLAS PECORELLI
A Dream of Fatherhood
Thomas Nicholas Pecorelli knew what he wanted. When he was only 12, he signed on as an unpaid apprentice at a cable television station near his family home in Newburyport, Mass. He was 30 when he boarded American Airlines Flight 11 on Sept. 11, well on the way to a successful career in television production. But something else had taken over as the priority of his life.
''His dream was to be a father, and it was coming true,'' said Mr. Pecorelli's mother, Elaine Dyer, of Corona, Calif. His wife, Kia Pavloff-Pecorelli gave birth to his son, Nicholas Thomas Pecorelli, on March 19.
After working his way through high school for the local cable channel, and graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he worked as a sports cameraman and announcer in Florida, produced commercials in Tucson, Ariz., and then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a cameraman at the Academy Awards ceremony and other events.
But he also remained close to friends in Massachusetts, and had flown back to attend the wedding of a friend near Boston on the weekend before Sept. 11.

Berit's mother Gudrun Johanne Naess passed away in 2004. I wasn't able to find any information about her father. Berit and her husband Louis still reside in Ferndale, Michigan. Her grandson Nicholas Pecorelli resides in Birmingham, Michigan.