Remembering 9/11: Sara Elizabeth Low

Sara Elizabeth Low

(Image from Legacy.com)

I was not personally acquainted with Sara Low, a flight attendant from Batesville, Arkansas who died when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:46 on September 11, 2001, but when my brother Tim lived and worked in Batesville, he got to know her and her father, possibly her mother and sister as well, and that's why I try to remember her on anniversaries of 9/11.

I see from checking online that others are also remembering her at this time. A Legacy site reveals that Sara Low's only sister, Alyson Low, remembered her on September 7, 2010 with a poignant quote from Emily Dickinson:

"I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness."

These words are ultimately borrowed from a letter written in 1859. The entire letter, which clarifies for us that Emily Dickinson's beloved sister, Vinnie, had been 'taken' only in the sense that she had been required at the home of a sick aunt, can be found in The Letters of Emily Dickinson. In that same letter, Dickinson goes on to say of her sister:

"Vinnie has been all, so long, I feel the oddest fright at parting with her for an hour, lest a storm arise, and I go unsheltered."

From this letter, one can see that Emily Dickinson not only deeply longed for her sister's presence, but even needed her as well, and could scarcely wait until her sister should eventually return to fill the stillness of her temporary absence.

For those like Alyson Low who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001, however, that stillness will always remain, and if you go to the Legacy site, you can look at the Guest Book Photos posted there that demonstrate just how much she and her sister loved each other.

Remembering Sara Elizabeth Low: American Airlines Flight 11

Sara Low
High School Graduation, 1991
(Image from Evidence in Sentencing of Zacarias Moussaoui)

Two years ago, my younger brother Tim informed me that he had known one of the flight attendants on American Airlines Flight 11, the first flight to crash into the World Trade Center. Her name was Sara Low, and her father and my brother had gotten to know each other when my brother worked in a hospital in Batesville, Arkansas, Sara Low's hometown.

Here's part of what Tim wrote to me:

I know Sara's father well and knew Sara when she was in her teens and early 20s. She was an intelligent and beautiful person who deserved better than her tragic end.

Sara and the rest of her flight crew, being on the first hijacked plane, could have no inkling of what lay in store, unlike on United Airlines Flight 93, where the crew and passengers learned of the earlier attacks and mounted a pre-emptive counterattack that stopped the hijackers from succeeding in their suicide mission. Yet, we should remember small acts of resistance, for as I noted two years ago:

. . . the last recorded information that we have about Sara Low is that on the highjacked American Airlines Flight 11, she gave to another flight attendant, Amy Sweeney, "her father's calling card, which allowed [Sweeney] . . . to pretend to be a passenger and use an AirFone to call Logan Airport and relay the vital information."

Even a small act like that took presence of mind and some degree of courage in terrible circumstances that the vast majority of us will never face.

Sara Low left behind a loving family -- her father Mike, mother Bobbie, and sister Alyson -- so she is surely remembered with love. Nor is she forgotten by her community. Sara was a track athlete in high school, and her team won a state title in 1989. In honor of her memory, Batesville has for a second year now held the Sara Low Memorial 5K Run and Walk.

I'm certain that many other memories of Sara Low deserve to be recorded, and likely have been by those who knew her personally, among them my brother Tim, who probably every year on 9/11 finds himself "[t]hinking about Sara, a flight attendant . . . from Batesville, who died on Flight 11."

Remembering Sara Low: American Airlines Flight 11

Sara Low

(Image Borrowed from Guardian Unlimited)

Last year on my September 11th post, my brother informed me that he had known one of the persons who had died on the first plane to hit the World Trade Center.

Today being a sad anniversary of that terrible day, I just want to repeat some things that I posted about Ms. Low a year ago.

First, from my September 13, 2006 blog entry:

On my 9/11 post, my brother Tim left this comment:

It's hard to believe it has been five years since 9/11. Thinking about Sara, a flight attendant I knew from Batesville, who died on Flight 11.

Astonished, I responded:

Tim, I had no idea that you knew someone who died in the 9/11 attacks.

I'm sorry to hear this. Was she a close friend?

To which, Tim said:

I know Sara's father well and knew Sara when she was in her teens and early 20s. She was an intelligent and beautiful person who deserved better than her tragic end.

Five years have passed, but only now have I learned that one of my own brothers knew someone not far from our hometown of Salem who was killed on September 11, 2001.

Sara died when she was only 28 and deserves a far better tribute than I can give, for I didn't know her, but I can at least add this post to her memory.

Now, from my September 14, 2006 blog entry:

I ... discovered that the last recorded information that we have about Sara Low is that on the highjacked American Airlines Flight 11, she gave to another flight attendant, Amy Sweeney, "her father's calling card, which allowed [Sweeney] ... to pretend to be a passenger and use an AirFone to call Logan Airport and relay the vital information.

"With that card, Ms. Sweeney reported what she knew and saw, providing valuable information until "the plane suddenly changed course, ... [and] she spoke her last reported words: 'I see water and buildings. Oh my God! Oh my God!'"

And that was the end.

Six years later, and one year after learning of Sara Low, I still think about these people whose terrible deaths changed everything.

Feeling rather somber this morning, I'll just stop here for today.