The day dawns bright and clear as the first rays of an Atlantic Ocean sunrise glint off incoming jets at Boston's Logan International Airport.
Across the Charles River, in the city, traffic builds, then crawls. On the radio, announcers predict the perfect end-of-summer day, then quickly segue into an eyebrow-raising news story about a sudden spate of shark attacks along the Eastern seaboard.
It's Sept. 10, 2001, and the routine of Monday is well under way.
Inland, in Westborough, Mass., Linda George, 27, arrives at her job at the headquarters of discount retailers TJ Maxx and Marshall's.
The tall, auburn-haired sportswear buyer is in a great mood after celebrating her bridal shower yesterday at a nearby country club with her family and 40 of her closest friends -- even some she hadn't seen in ages.
Almost all the details for her October wedding are complete. The dress is chosen. The reception hall booked. She's almost done putting together scrapbooks for her six bridesmaids. She still needs a few more photographs, a few more captions. Each memory book is to be a record of friendships that stretch back to elementary school days, high school years and her time at Providence College in Rhode Island.
She plans to write thank-you notes for bridal shower presents on her flight from Boston to Los Angeles tomorrow. She's flying to California with six other employees of TJX Companies. All are booked on American Airlines Flight 11.
Linda logs onto her computer at work Monday morning and writes this message to those she loves:
She sends the message at 8:41 a.m.
At a bus stop in Acton, Mass., Madeline Amy Sweeney's heart breaks as she watches her little Anna taken away on a bus for the first full week of kindergarten.
The 35-year-old mother of two wants to be at the bus stop every day. But she can't.
Once a full-time American Airlines flight attendant, Amy has a wealth of international flying experience and an enviable list of vacations behind her. Bali. Hong Kong. Skiing in Colorado. Then came marriage to Michael Sweeney, the babies, the years off of work to tend to son Jack, born at 2 pounds and now age 4 and thriving. These days, she flies part time. Tomorrow, she will return to the skies.
Later today, Amy will return to the kindergarten to fill out a volunteer form. She will agree to help with everything -- field trips, computer work, arts and crafts. She will sign the form and date it, Sept. 10, 2001, then go home to sort laundry from a family weekend visiting country fairs in Vermont.
Eventually, the volunteer form will be returned to her husband. It will become a keepsake to Michael, who will see his wife's spirit in everything she checked off on the form.
In the Boston suburb of Belmont, Paul J. Friedman, 45, spends the day with his adopted Korean son, Richard Harry Hyun-Soo Friedman, otherwise known as "Rocky." He and his wife, Audrey Ades, 40, just adopted the infant, their only child, in the spring.
Paul is not just any father. He is a father with master's degrees in psychology and business from Johns Hopkins and New York universities.
Normally on Mondays, Paul, a frequent flier, already is headed toward a consulting job with Warner Bros. in L.A. But he's postponed the trip until Tuesday morning, when he plans to take Flight 11.
Today is a day off, and he spends it with his son.
In the 1,600-person lobster fishing village of Lubec, Maine, Jackie Norton, 61, picks sweet peas. She leaves one bouquet of the fragile beauties with a friend and another at a nursing home. She returns home to get ready for a morning trip to California for her son's wedding. She and her husband, Robert Norton, 85, also will be traveling aboard Flight 11.
The sun hits midheaven, and all seems well.
Richard George holds a photo of his daughter Linda, with her niece Maya George. On Sept. 10, 2001, Linda George thanked friends for her bridal shower.
ABOUT THIS STORY
We promised we'd never forget.
Yet the enormity of Sept. 11, 2001, made it difficult to know and mourn the individual lives lost. Nearly 3,000 were killed.
By remembering the people aboard just one flight, Fort Worth-based American Airlines' Flight 11, we are more fully able to honor individual lives.
Of the four planes hijacked that day, Flight 11 was the first to take off and the first to be hijacked.
The passengers and crew may have suspected that the hijackers would land the airplane in New York. Never before had a hijacked commercial plane been used as a missile aimed at a building.
Unlike other hijacked flights, there are no known telephone calls from Flight 11 passengers to families, according to The 9/11 Commission Report. Although there are no reported last words to loved ones, two flight attendants managed to contact American Airlines to report the hijacking.
Aboard Flight 11 were five hijackers, including Mohamed Atta, the man in charge of the 19 hijackers in the U.S. We chose not to profile the hijackers. This story is meant as a celebration of innocent lives and a remembrance of who they were on Sept. 10, 2001.
Interviewed for this story are 36 family members and friends of those aboard Flight 11. We were unable to locate a number of families. We also gathered information from obituaries and from widely scattered previous features on individuals.
Many of those interviewed said they are thankful that their loved ones are remembered here. And, understandably, seven families of victims declined to be interviewed for this report, as did American Airlines.
The diverse group of 11 crew members and 76 passengers aboard Flight 11 raised families, volunteered for social services, provided entertainment and moved American businesses forward. They are a random cross section of America.
Our hope is that by portraying their lives on Sept. 10, we can inspire others. As American 11 flight attendant Dianne Snyder said: "People choose whether or not to love God." We can choose between good and evil, love and hate, and make good use of our own ordinary days.
Staff
Editor
Maricar Estrella
Writer/reporter
Jessie Milligan
Researcher
Marcia Melton
Copy editors
Brian Johnston Felicia Smith
Photographer
Ron T. Ennis
Designer
Monique Miller
Acknowledgments
A very special thanks to the people who were interviewed for this story, the families and friends of Flight 11 passengers and crew members:
Blake Allison, Lyme, N.H.
Joann Anderson, Baytown, Texas
Rosie Arestegui, Hawthorne, Calif.
Evelyn Aronson, St. Louis
John and Jill Bullis, Essex, Conn.
Marilyn Bullis, Madison, Conn.
Kay Collman, Yorkville, Ill.
Gary Conn, Marblehead, Mass.
Christie Coombs, Abington, Mass.
Florence Deatherage, Elsmere, Ky.
Dorothy DiMeglio, Everett, Mass.
Marjorie DiTullio, Lynn, Mass.
Marjorie Farley, St. Simons Island, Ga.
Loretta Filipov, Concord, Mass.
Charles and Janet Flyzik, Parsonfield, Maine
Selma Friedman, Morristown, N.J.
Jim Fyfe, Durham, N.C.
Richard and Carolyn George, Osterville, Mass.
Joan Greener, Salem, Mass.
Allan Hackel, Newton, Mass.
Carol Hayes, Danvers, Mass.
Samia Iskandar, Northridge, Calif.
Francine and Edward Kaplan, Framingham, Mass.
Carie Lemack, Washington, D.C.
Danielle Lemack, Framingham, Mass.
Alyson Low, Fayetteville, Ark.
Bobbie Low, Batesville, Ark.
Peg Ogonowski, Dracut, Mass.
Harry Ong Jr., San Francisco
Kendree Parker, Dover, N.H.
Felice Pomeranz, Sudbury, Mass.
Eileen Rogér, Longmeadow, Mass.
Haleema S. Salie, Newton, Mass.
David Smith, Wellesley, Mass.
John Snyder, Westport Point, Mass.
Michael Sweeney, Acton, Mass.
Other sources include: The New York Times; The Boston Globe; Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, Rocky Mountain News, Richmond Times Dispatch and Plastics Today magazine.
Staff
Editor
Maricar Estrella
Writer/reporter
Jessie Milligan
Researcher
Marcia Melton
Copy editors
Brian Johnston Felicia Smith
Photographer
Ron T. Ennis
Designer
Monique Miller
IN MEMORIAM
On Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 11 about 15 minutes after takeoff. It crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan at 8:46 a.m. Eastern time. It was the first of four airplanes hijacked that day. In all, 2,973 people, including hundreds of rescue workers, were killed. On Flight 11, there were these 11 crew members and 76 passengers. This is our tribute to them:
CREW
John A. Ogonowski, 50, Dracut, Mass., pilot. He was a fourth-generation Massachusetts farmer and a Vietnam War-era transport pilot before flying for American for 22 years. He donated part of his farm to immigrant farmers, most of them from Cambodia.
Thomas F. McGuinness, 42, Portsmouth, N.H., co-pilot. A devout Christian, he had found his faith intensifying in recent years after attending Bible-study classes. He had recently moved his family from California to pursue better opportunities with the airlines.
Barbara Jean Arestegui, known as Bobbi, 38, Marstons Mills, Mass., flight attendant in first class. She was the middle child of five sisters, one of whom is a flight attendant still. She was working extra trips to earn time off for a vacation in Vermont.
Jeffrey Dwayne Collman, 41, Novato, Calif., flight attendant assigned to coach. A tennis fan, he had recently visited the U.S. Open in New York. He was flying an extra shift so he could take time off for a trip to Italy.
Sara Elizabeth Low, 28, Boston, flight attendant in business class. A relatively new flight attendant, she was hoping to fly internationally. She had recently moved into her first apartment without roommates and was often busy decorating.
Karen Martin, 40, Danvers, Mass., head flight attendant. She was an energetic fitness enthusiast who worked out regularly at a gym. She was planning to play golf with her brother in Los Angeles that afternoon.
Kathleen Nicosia, 54, Winthrop, Mass., flight attendant assigned to the rear galley. She was a 32-year veteran of American Airlines who enjoyed reading and gardening.
Betty Ann Ong, 45, Amherst, Mass., flight attendant in coach. Ong, a baggage handler and ticket agent, became a flight attendant 13 years ago. She usually worked trips to her native San Francisco, but she was picking up an extra flight so she could take time off for a vacation in Hawaii.
Jean D. Rogér, 24, Longmeadow, Mass., flight attendant in the business section. She was a college graduate in environmental science who wanted the adventure of flying. She learned on the morning of Sept. 11 that she was needed on Flight 11.
Dianne Snyder, 42, Westport Point, Mass., flight attendant in the midcabin galley. A tennis player, quilter and hiker, she also was known as an excellent chocolate-chip-cookie baker.
Madeline Amy Sweeney, 35, Acton, Mass., flight attendant in coach. She had nurtured her 2-pound son until he thrived, and she felt emotional every time she saw the school bus drive her little daughter off to kindergarten.
PASSENGERS
Anna S. Allison, 48, Stoneham, Mass. An owner of a new software business, her work was doing well despite a downturn in the tech industry. She was a wine and food enthusiast traveling to a consulting job with Toyota.
David L. Angell, 54, and Lynn Edwards Angell, 52, Pasadena, Calif. A TV comedy writer and the co-producer of Frasier, Angell was a native of New England hoping to move back. He and his wife were flying back to attend the Sept. 16 Emmy Awards in L.A. The awards were delayed, and Frasier, although nominated as best comedy, did not win. Angell was given an honorary award.
David Seima Aoyama, 48, Culver City, Calif. He was a worker at the national headquarters of Soka Gakkai International, a Japanese Buddhist organization that promotes peace and cultural understanding. He was traveling on business.
Myra Joy Aronson, 50, Charlestown, Mass. A Francophile and a music enthusiast, she had recently bought a Saab and was doing well at her job in public relations. She was traveling on business.
Christine Barbuto, 32, Brookline, Mass. A buyer of women's sportswear for TJX Companies, the parent company of TJ Maxx. she was traveling on business. She was known for her sense of humor and enthusiasm.
Kelly Ann Booms, 24, Boston. She was an accountant on a business trip for the accounting house PricewaterhouseCoopers. She was learning to play the guitar, and she helped out at Boston-area charities.
Carol Bouchard, 43, Warwick, R.I. A hospital emergency-room secretary, she was afraid of flying but agreed to go on a trip to Las Vegas with a friend, Renee Newell, also aboard Flight 11.
Neilie Casey, 32, Wellesley, Mass. She was a golfer and a jogger who ran in a Sept. 9, 2001, Susan G. Komen race, which raises money for breast cancer research. She had a 9-month-old daughter.
Jeffrey Coombs, 42, Abington, Mass. A financial services manager for Compaq, he was traveling on business. He also was an outdoorsman who enjoyed hiking.
Tara K. Creamer, 30, Worcester, Mass. As much as she loved apparel marketing, she had cut back on business travel and was on a rare trip for TJX Companies. She had a 15-month-old daughter and 4-year-old son.
Thelma Cuccinello, 71, Wilmot, N.H. A quilter, gardener and community volunteer, she was flying to California to visit a sister.
Patrick J. Currivan, 52, of Winchester, Mass., and Paris. An Irish national with homes in Massachusetts and Paris, he was flying to California on business. He traveled extensively in the Middle East and was fascinated by Islamic culture.
Andrew Curry Green, 34, Santa Monica, Calif. He was a skier, a kayaker and a lover of art and literature. He was director of business development at Internet publishing firm eLogic Corp., and he and co-worker Jeffrey P. Mladenik were traveling for business.
Brian P. Dale, 43, Warren, N.J. A co-founder of investment firm Blue Capital Management, he was flying to California on business. He loved camping and boating.
David DiMeglio, 22, Wakefield, Mass. An apprentice electrician who loved computers, wrestling and rap music. He was headed to Arizona to help his mother move back to Boston.
Donald DiTullio, 49, Peabody, Mass. He worked in medical-device manufacturing and loved Harley-Davidson motorcycles and country dancing. He was on a vacation to Palm Springs, Calif., with his girlfriend, N. Janis Lasden.
Alberto Dominguez, 66, Lidcombe, New South Wales, Australia. A Qantas Airways baggage office worker, he was visiting relatives in Boston. In his youth, he was a bicyclist who took part in Olympic and Pan Am games.
Paige Farley-Hackel, 46, Newton, Mass. A substance-abuse counselor and spiritual seeker, she was headed to California. Her best friend, Ruth McCourt,, 45, and McCourt's daughter, Juliana, 4, were to meet her there. They were aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Alexander Filipov, 70, Concord, Mass. He was an engineer, a naturalist, a painter, an explorer, a gardener, a human-rights activist and a deacon at Trinitarian Congregational Church. He was traveling as an engineering consultant.
Carol Flyzik, 40, Plaistow, N.H. A nurse turned medical equipment saleswoman, she was in the midst of remodeling a 13-room Victorian home. She was flying on business.
Paul J. Friedman, 45, Belmont, Mass. He was a management consultant traveling to meetings with Warner Bros. He and his wife adopted an infant boy from Korea in the spring.
Karleton D. B. Fyfe, 31, Brookline, Mass. He was traveling on business for John Hancock Insurance. He had a 1-year-old child with another on the way.
Peter A. Gay, 54, Tewksbury, Mass. A vice president of operations at defense contractor Raytheon, he was reported to be going to California to increase production at a plant that produced military radar.
Linda George, 27, Westborough, Mass. A sportswear buyer for TJX Companies, her wedding shower had been two days earlier. She was traveling on business.
Edmund Glazer, 41, Wellesley, Mass. A chief financial officer at MRV Communications traveling on business, he was raised in Zambia and South Africa. He came to the United States during college.
Lisa Fenn Gordenstein, 41, of Needham, Mass. An assistant vice president and merchandise manager for TJX Companies, she was traveling on business. The retailer's CEO called her a great businesswoman and a creative merchant who loved being a mother.
Peter Paul Hashem, 40, Tewksbury, Mass. A software engineer, he was traveling on business. He was involved in fundraising to help Lebanese immigrants, and he was involved in his Catholic church.
Robert Hayes, 37, of Amesbury, Mass. A surfer, boater, snowboarder, and lover of old cars and old houses. He was traveling as a salesman for a company that makes presses that imprint CDs.
Edward R. "Ted" Hennessy Jr., 35, of Belmont, Mass. A cum laude graduate of Harvard, he played keyboards, drums and guitar. He was on his way to Elektra Records to consult on distribution systems.
John A. Hofer, 45, Bellflower, Calif. He owned John's Sharpening Center for pet-grooming tools. He was returning home from a golfing vacation on Cape Cod with his friend John Wenckus.
Cora Holland, 52, Sudbury, Mass. She recently returned from a trip to Paris to celebrate an upcoming 25th wedding anniversary. She was going to visit family in California.
Nicholas Humber, 60, of Newton, Mass. An alternative-energy professional, he was an adviser to the World Bank on fuel cell technology and a director of commercial sales for the Enron Wind Corp. in California. He was traveling on business.
Waleed Iskandar, 34, of London. An adventurer and business-savvy consultant who worked around the world, he was going to visit his parents in California. His fiancee was to follow on a later flight.
John C. Jenkins, 45, of Cambridge, Mass. An analyst and manager for Charles River Associates consulting, he was headed to the company's Los Angeles office. He volunteered at an opera, a theater, a crisis hot line and at AIDS-related charities.
Charles E. Jones, 48, Bedford, Mass. A former astronaut trained for space shuttle flights, he lost his chance to fly after the shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986 and the program was suspended. He was traveling on business for BAE Systems, a defense contractor.
Robin L. Kaplan, 33, Westborough, Mass. An equipment specialist for TJX Companies, she had recently recovered from a debilitating illness. She was on her first business trip since returning to work.
Barbara Keating, 72, of Cape Cod, Mass. and Palm Springs, Calif. A widow who survived breast cancer twice, she volunteered at St. Theresa Catholic Church and was a former administrator of a Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
David Kovalcin, 42, Hudson, N.H. The father of two little girls was a mechanical engineer at the defense contractor Raytheon. He was headed to Santa Barbara on a business trip.
Judith Camilla "Judy" Larocque, 50, Framingham, Mass. A Boston Red Sox fan, she owned a golden retriever and was a yoga student. She was headed to California for her business, Market Perspectives, which employed 20 people.
N. Janis Lasden, 46, Peabody, Mass. She was a quilter, a country-western dancer and a pal to two Rottweilers and one German shepherd. She was going on vacation with her boyfriend, Donald DiTullio.
Daniel Lee, 34, Van Nuys, Calif. A roadie for the Backstreet Boys, he broke from the tour to go home for the birth of his second child. He frequently worked on concert tours, including those of Yanni and Barbra Streisand.
Daniel Lewin, 31, Brookline, Mass. He was a tech star after co-founding Akamai Technologies. Born in Denver, he moved to Jerusalem and served in the Israeli army before returning to the U.S.
Susan Mackay, 44, Westford, Mass. An assistant vice president of planning for TJX Companies, she was traveling on business. She was known as a great neighbor who was the life of any party.
Carolyn Mayer-Beug, 48, Santa Monica, Calif. She had just dropped off her twin daughters, who had recently begun their first year at the Rhode Island School of Design. She was a producer whose Right Now video for Van Halen won an MTV Music Award in 1992. Her mother, Mary Alice Wahlstrom, also was aboard.
Christopher D. Mello, 25, Boston. He had been a rugby player at Princeton University, where he earned a psychology degree. A golfer, boxer and artist, he was traveling on business as a financial analyst for Alta Communications.
Jeffrey P. Mladenik, 43, Hinsdale, Ill. He was an interim CEO for eLogic, traveling on business. An associate pastor, he often read the Bible aboard the airplane and was in the process of adopting a second daughter from China.
Carlos Alberto Montoya, 36, Belmont, Mass. A recent immigrant from Bogata, Colombia. He is believed to have been traveling to see his parents in Huntington Beach, Calif.
Antonio Jesus Montoya, 46, East Boston, Mass. A worker at Boston's Harbor Hotel, he was traveling to California to see his sister.
Laura Lee Morabito, 34, Framingham, Mass. A national sales manager for Qantas Airways. The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y., reported that when her husband dropped her off at the airport she was wearing a black dress and diamond earrings that he bought her in Italy.
Mildred Naiman, 81, Andover, Mass. She had recent knee-replacement surgeries and used a wheelchair through Logan International Airport. She was flying to California to visit two sons.
Laurie Ann Neira, 48, Los Angeles. Raised in Massachusetts, she moved to L.A., where she was a transcriber with Your Office Genie.
Renee L. Newell, 37, Cranston, R.I. A customer-service agent for American Airlines, she was going to a conference in Las Vegas. She took a friend, Carolyn Bouchard, on the flight.
Jacqueline "Jackie" J. Norton, 60, and Robert G. Norton, 85, of Lubec, Maine. The retired couple was well-known and well-loved in the small fishing community where they lived. She was the church secretary, and he was a deacon at the Lubec Congregational Church where they met. She was a gardener who took bouquets of sweet peas to a friend and to a nursing home the day before she and her husband left. They were headed to her son's wedding in California.
Jane Marie Orth, 49, Haverhill, Mass. A recent retiree from Lucent Technologies, she was headed to Australia for a vacation.
Thomas Pecorelli, 31, Topanga Canyon, Calif. A television cameraman, he was two weeks shy of his second wedding anniversary. His wife was pregnant with their first child.
Berinthia "Berry" Berenson Perkins, 53, of Hollywood, Calif., Treasure Beach, Jamaica and Cape Cod, Mass. The widow of actor Anthony Perkins spent part of the summer at her Cape Cod home. She was traveling to California to see her son, rocker Elvis Perkins, perform.
Sonia Mercedes Morales Puopolo, 58, of Dover, Mass. A former ballerina from Puerto Rico, she was going to L.A. to see the Latin Grammys. She and her husband were arts patrons.
David E. Retik, 33, Needham, Mass. He was a general partner of the media and telecommunications investment company Alta Communications. His wife was seven months pregnant with their third child.
Philip M. Rosenzweig, 47, Acton, Mass. A vice president with Sun Microsystems, he was traveling on business. He loved race cars and owned a Porsche.
Richard B. Ross, 58, Newton, Mass. A coach to his kids' sports teams, he was a founder of the Brain Tumor Society after one of his children had a brain tumor. He founded a management consulting company.
Jessica Sachs, 23, Billerica, Mass. A new accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, she was traveling on business. She was active at New Colony Baptist Church.
Rahma Salie, 28, Boston. She was a technology consultant who was born in Sri Lanka, raised in Japan and educated in the United States. The Muslim woman, seven months pregnant, was traveling with her husband, Michael Theodoridis, to go to a wedding for a friend from Japan.
Heather Lee Smith, 30, Boston. She was a newly hired real estate investment analyst with Beacon Capital Partners. Her interest in travel and other cultures was sparked as a child when her family moved to Iran for three years.
Douglas Stone, 54, Dover, N.H. A part-owner of a printing business, he was going to California to help his son get ready for his freshman year at UCLA.
Xavier Suarez, 41, Chino Hills, Calif. He is described on passenger lists as a civil engineer, but little else has surfaced about his background.
James Trentini, 65, and Mary Trentini, 67, Everett, Mass. Going to California to baby-sit their three grandchildren, ages 2 through 7, they carried an extra suitcase to carry all the kids' presents. The retired couple often flew American Flight 11 to visit family on the West Coast. He was a former schoolteacher and coach, and she was a former school secretary. They planned to fly on Sept. 10, but they waited an extra day because he had jury duty.
Michael Theodoridis, 32, Boston. A technology consultant who was a Greek immigrant to Switzerland. He converted to Islam when he married Rahma Salie. They were about to become parents.
Pendyala "Vamsi" Vamshikrishna, 30, Los Angeles. A son of an official with the Indian Defense Ministry, he came to the U.S. in 1991. He was a software engineer at DTI Technologies and missed his Monday departure from Boston because he wanted to finish more work.
Mary Alice Wahlstrom, 78, Kaysville, Utah. An avid reader, a retired loan officer, a golfer and a mother of five, she was flying with her daughter, Carolyn Mayer-Beug, after helping granddaughters settle into their first year at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Kenneth Waldie, 46, Methuen, Mass. A Naval Academy student president, class of 1978, he was a competitive swimmer and a quality-control engineer for Raytheon. His work colleagues found him so helpful that they nicknamed him "911."
John Wenckus, 46, Torrance, Calif., formerly of Massachusetts. An avid golfer, he returned to Massachusetts to visit friends and family and to golf with his buddy John A. Hofer, also aboard this flight.
Candace Lee Williams, 20, Danbury, Conn. A business administration student at Northeastern University in Boston, she spent the first six months of the year interning at Merrill Lynch in the north tower of the World Trade Center. She was on a vacation to visit her college roommate in California.
Christopher R. Zarba Jr., 47, Hopkinton, Mass. He was a software engineer with Concord Communications, headed to Los Angeles on business. He played piano and French horn, spoke German and Italian, and was a painter and gardener.
Compiled from news reports, interviews with family and friends, and Star-Telegram research by Marcia Melton and Jessie Milligan.
Yes, we have had warnings as you point out. The problem is we too easily and quickly forget. And I have no clue why this should be.
Thank you very much for your comments. I thought this was a very nicely done piece by a local paper. It's important to remember them, and why we now fight.
