Husband Remembers Wife and Unborn Child Who Died on United Flight 93

Jack Grandcolas lost the two people he held most dear on September 11, 2001: his wife, Lauren, and their unborn child. His pregnant 38-year-old wife died on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought back against hijackers. 

Lauren was three months pregnant when she flew from their home in California to New Jersey for her grandmother’s funeral. At her insistence, he stayed behind to care for their sick cat.

Lauren left this message for her husband that day. “Honey, are you there? Jack? Pick up, sweetie. Okay, well, I just want to tell you I love you. We’re having a little problem on the plane. I’m fine and comfortable and I’m okay for now. I just love you more than anything, just know that. It’s just a little problem, so I, I’ll … Honey, I just love you. Please tell my family I love them, too. Bye, honey.”

“In that moment I knew Lauren and our baby were gone,” he writes in a new memoir, Like A River To The Sea: Heartbreak and Hope in the Wake of United 93. 
Check out this story from the Catholic News Agency to read more.