Beverly Eckert
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Beverly Eckert (May 29, 1951 – February 12, 2009) was one of the members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission.[1] Eckert's husband, Sean Rooney, died aged 50 in the attacks of September 11, 2001. Eckert died at age 57 in a commuter aircraft accident on February 12, 2009.[2] She was travelling from Newark Liberty International Airport to Buffalo Niagara International Airport aboard Colgan Air Flight 3407. The aircraft crashed in Clarence Center, New York.
She had met with President Barack Obama just a few days earlier in her role as an advocate for those affected by 9/11.[3] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who as Senator from New York worked with Eckert on 9/11 matters, described Eckert as one of the "principal champions" of the creation of the 9/11 Commission.[4]
Eckert was the co-chairperson of the group "Voices of September 11th". She pushed for a commission to investigate 9/11 and to establish a memorial.[5]
Life before September 11 attack
Eckert was born in 1951 in Buffalo, New York, and met her future husband, Sean P. Rooney, at a dance at Canisius High School, a Jesuit-run academy in that city, when both were 16 years old. Eckert attended the Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all girls high school in Eggertsville, NY. She received a degree in fine arts in 1974 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Rooney lived in Buffalo until 1978, working as a manager of restaurants, until he began working in the financial services industry and moving to Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut. When he died he was a vice president for risk management services at the Aon Corporation. He worked on the 98th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower, one of 32 employees in Aon's offices there.[6]
The couple, who had no children and lived in the Glenbrook section of Stamford, Connecticut, had been married 21 years when Rooney died. Before Rooney's death, they had celebrated their 50th birthdays with vacations to Vermont, to mark his, and Morocco, to mark hers.[6]
September 11, 2001
When planes hit the World Trade Center towers, Rooney called his wife and exchanged voice mail messages with her. To get to safety, he made his way to the 105th floor of his building, trying to reach the roof, when he died.[6]
After Eckert learned about the attacks, she went home and stayed on the phone with her husband until she heard the tower collapse.[7]
After September 11
Eckert became a leading activist among 9/11 victims' families, joining with others in lobbying for creation of the 9/11 Commission, improvements to national security, and for creation of a memorial at the World Trade Center site.[7]
"I'm trying to find a new path for myself," Eckert told The Advocate of Stamford on the first anniversary of her husband's death. "The life I led a year ago doesn't exist."[7]
In pressing federal elected officials to do a better job in protecting Americans from terrorism, she was among a number of 9/11 victims' family members who "became amateur lobbyists, spending months in Congress and ultimately forcing lawmakers in 2004 to pass sweeping reforms of U.S. intelligence", according to the Chicago Tribune "Swamp" blog.[8] She also spoke in opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[7]
"I did all of this for Sean's memory, I did it for him," Eckert said. "There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. [...] I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else's Sean will get to come home."[8]
Locally, Eckert worked with Stamford city officials on various memorial projects. She left her job at General Re and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and, beginning in September 2008, as a tutor at the Julia A. Stark Elementary School. She was also a member of the Glenbrook Neighborhood Association. In honor of her husband and other victims, Eckert planted birch trees near a trail in Cove Island Park where she and Rooney learned to in-line skate. At the Glenbrook train station, where her husband commuted to work, she commissioned a mural and planted a sycamore tree as a memorial. Shortly before her death, she had joined a neighborhood association committee to improve the station.[7]
Several years after she became a widow, she met a man during a trip to Block Island, and the couple later lived together in Stamford.[6]
A week before her death, Eckert was in a group meeting with Obama to discuss detainees at Guantanamo and other matters. Eckert was impressed with Obama,[9] who in turn called her a “tireless advocate for the families, those whose lives were forever changed on that September day” and "an inspiration to me and to so many others”.[6]
When Eckert died, she was traveling to Buffalo for a gathering with her family and Rooney’s to mark what would have been his 58th birthday on February 15. A ceremony had also been scheduled at Canisius High School in which she was to award a student with a memorial scholarship in Rooney's honor.[9]
Of those lost in the plane crash, Eckert's death "in particular resonated across the nation because of its haunting poignancy", according to an article in the The Buffalo News just after the disaster. Eckert's advocacy for families of 9/11 victims had been prominent nationwide, and the victim's advocate had just become a victim of another violent death. "Friends were stunned by the idea that Eckert had died in a way that paralleled her husband — a fiery plane crash."[9]
The Buffalo News article described Eckert as "a slight, blonde woman known for her tailored clothes, her love of home renovation projects and pottery-making, and her unstoppable drive and determination."[9]
References
- ^ "Beverly Eckert, 9/11 widow, champions intelligence reform legislation". US News and World Report. 2004-12-13. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
- ^ "Fiery plane crash near Buffalo, NY, kills 50". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
- ^ "Sky News report". Sky News. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
- ^ "Clinton: People of WNY will pull together". WROC-TV. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
- ^ Linstedt, Sharon (2009-02-13). "Beverly Eckert, widow of 9/11 victim, was aboard Flight 3407". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
- ^ a b c d e Chan, Sewell, "Beverly Eckert, Leader of Families of 9/11 Victims, Dies at 57 ", obituary, February 14, 2009, The New York Times, retrieved same day
- ^ a b c d e Potts, Monica and Martin Cassidy, "Neighbors: 'For this to happen just seems unreal': 'A deeply felt loss' among neighbors in Stamford", article, February 14, 2009, The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, retrieved same day
- ^ a b Silva, Mark, "Beverly Eckert: Crash victim, 9/11 widow", blog post, February 13, 2009, The Swamp blog of the Chicago Tribune, retrieved February 14, 2009
- ^ a b c d Vogel, Charity, "Passengers and crew aboard Flight 3407: Their stories", article, February 14, 2009, The Buffalo News, retrieved same day
External links
- Voices of September 11th
- "My Silence Cannot Be Bought", article by Eckert, reprinted from USA Today, December 19, 2003
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