PAX AETERNA

I am writing this editor’s note on September 11, twelve years after four planes crashed into New York City, Washington, D.C., and Stonycreek Township, Pa. This morning, I had the honor and privilege to accompany attorney Donna Killoughey Bird at the 2013 ceremonies at Ground Zero. She was one of the family members chosen by lottery to read the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in 2001 and 1993. Her husband, Gary Bird, was the only Arizonan on the sad list.

It was an intense, painful, yet profoundly peaceful ceremony, and I am so grateful that I was able to participate. The organizers were brilliant, respectful, and helpful. Thoughtful staff guided us to find names etched in the magnificent waterfall pools, sanctifying the ground where two towers once reached the clouds. The victims’ names are grouped together, as they fell, in the sky, skyscraper, or pentagon. We found Gary, as well as United 93 flight attendant Lorraine Bay and passengers Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer. At the podium, Donna spoke those three names and 10 more, ending with Gary Eugene Bird.