Sept. 11 widow focuses on future
By Marilyn Elias
USA Today
Terrorists took Lisa Beamer's husband from her, but she refuses to forfeit her zest for life or faith in God.
Advertiser library photo
Beamer could have curled into the pose of "victim" after Sept. 11: She lost her husband, Todd, after he and others on Flight 93 battled hijackers for control of their plane. Although it crashed in Pennsylvania, killing all 44 aboard, the aircraft never hit its presumed Washington, D.C., target.
Lisa Beamer's husband, Todd, died in the Pennsylvania crash.
Now Beamer, mother of two small boys and expecting again in January, is determined to see that terrorists also miss the mark in attempting to wreck her life and the future of children whose parents perished on the plane.
That's why she has created a foundation to help the families of Flight 93 and to combat future terrorism.
The Beamers' life insurance policy excluded terrorist acts, but the insurer agreed to honor the policy anyway. Meanwhile, donations started pouring into the young couple's home from all over the world. She has received a few hundred thousand dollars just from individuals.
"People even sent me their $600 tax refunds. A lot of these people probably needed the money more than I do," she muses. "I just did not feel comfortable taking this money for my own family when we didn't need it. But I found out that other families from the flight did." Twenty-two children lost parents on Flight 93, "and I wanted to make sure they'd be taken care of."
So she thought up the idea of a nonprofit foundation. The Oracle Corp., Todd's former employer, and other businesses are expected to make additional donations to the fund (beamerfoundation.org).
Beamer garnered a lot of publicity when she flew to San Francisco Oct. 19 on the same scheduled United flight her husband had caught at Newark Airport. Although many marveled at how she could do it and attached a lot of symbolism to the trip, it was all about business, says Beamer, who is a former Oracle saleswoman.
She had to attend an early afternoon meeting with Oracle officials; United offered a free ticket, and the time was right.
"I really wanted to make that meeting and thought, 'I'm not going to let those terrorists affect my life any more than they have.' I felt defiant, but I wasn't making any big dramatic statement. I just felt ready to fly again."
The irony, she says, is that she never worried about Todd's frequent air trips. "Thinking about him driving the New Jersey Turnpike made me more nervous," she says.
Some saw her as a heroine for taking the flight. She saw it as just the sensible thing to do. The men and women aboard 93 are true heroes, she said. And nothing about Todd's behavior that day surprised her.
He was unlikely to panic in a crisis. So she's not surprised that he had the mental clarity to phone GTE operators twice from the plane. Early on, when he thought an ordinary hijacking was under way, he asked the operator to notify authorities and request that ground teams prepare for possible hostage negotiations.
Later, after he knew two suicide hijacks had just happened, and had helped hatch a plan for rebellion, Beamer told the operator about his wife and two little boys. He gave the operator Lisa's phone number and instructions to call her and tell her what had happened. He also asked the operator to recite the Lord's Prayer with him.
"He knew I was here by myself with the boys and couldn't do anything," Lisa Beamer says.
Responsibility and spiritual faith drove Todd's life; both were evident on Flight 93, his wife says. Raised in a home with a solid spiritual anchor, "Todd didn't need to pull this out of his pocket at the last minute. He felt responsible for other people."
Although his executive position at Oracle "could have taken over his whole life — and for many it does — he wouldn't let that happen," she says. He was a hands-on dad to David, 3, and 18-month-old Drew. He also was a mentor to teens in a church youth group.
