We Remember

Eleven Who Died in the Attacks

by Donald E. Skinner

Eleven members and friends of Unitarian Universalist congregations died in the terrorist attacks on September 11. Five worked in the World Trade Center. One was a passenger on one of the planes that struck the towers. One worked in the Pentagon. A family of four died on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Craig Amundson, 28, a computer graphics specialist working for the U.S. Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel, was killed at the Pentagon. He and his wife, Amber, and their children, Elliot, 5, and Charlotte, 2, attended the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Amundson was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Keith Coleman, 34, and Scott Coleman, 31, died in the collapse of the World Trade Center, where the brothers worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, the bond trading firm. Keith, of Warren, New Jersey, is survived by his wife, Elodie, and two young children, Neva and Vaughn. Scott, of New York City, was engaged to be married to Jessica Nardone. They were sons of Neil and Jean Coleman, longtime members of the Unitarian Church of Westport, Connecticut.

Charles Falkenberg, 45, Leslie Whittington, 45, and their children, Zoe, 8, and Dana, 3, of Hyattsville, Maryland, died on board American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. They were en route to Australia, where Whittington, an associate professor of public policy at Georgetown University, was to be a visiting fellow at Australian National University in Canberra. Her husband was the director of research for ECOlogic Corporation. The family was affiliated with the UU Church of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Paint Branch UU Church, Adelphi, Maryland.

Valerie J. Hanna, 57, of Freeville, New York, died in the collapse of the World Trade Center, where she was a senior vice president of Marsh & McLennan Companies. She and her husband of 29 years, Glenn Hughes, attended the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca. She is survived by a daughter, Lydia Robertson, an adopted daughter, Denene Robertson Ray, her ex-husband, the Rev. Frank E. Robertson of Plymouth, Massachusetts (a UU minister), and four grandchildren. Her son Joel died in 1993. She was a foster parent to at least 17 children.

Edward Hennessy Jr., 35, of Belmont, Massachusetts, a consultant with Time-Warner Inc., was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center. He and his wife, Melanie Salisbury, joined the First Church in Belmont one year ago. They have two children, Rachel, 6, and Matthew, 3.

Richard Myhre, 37, of Staten Island, New York, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald and died in the collapse of the World Trade Center. His wife, Gail, grew up in the Unitarian Church of Staten Island and the couple was married there by the Rev. Benjamin Bortin. They have a son, Jonathan, 2.

Todd Ouida, 25, of River Edge, New Jersey, also worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. He grew up in the Central Unitarian Church of Paramus, New Jersey. His parents, Herb and Andrea Ouida, are longtime members of the church. His father worked on the 77th floor of the same building and got out safely.

For more detailed information, including where memorial donations may be sent, visit the UUA Web site. Deb Weiner, the UUA's director of electronic communication, contributed to this report.

UU World XVI:1 (January/February 2002): 34-35.

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