wfn.org | Reports begin of United Methodist deaths, narrow escapes

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 13, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.     10-21-71B{392}

A UMNS Report
By Tom McAnally*

United Methodists hoped it wouldn't happen, but knew it would.  

Congregations, families and friends are learning that their own loved ones
are among those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York,
Washington and Pennsylvania. While they seek solace, other United Methodists
are dealing with mixed emotions as they learn their loved ones have narrowly
escaped danger.

Jane Dennis, director of communications for the church's Arkansas Area,
reports that Sara Beth Low, a 28-year-old flight attendant was  among those
killed on United Flight 11 which crashed into the World Trade Center. The
flight, originating in Boston,  was bound for Los Angeles.  Low was
confirmed as a youth at First United Methodist Church in Batesville, Ark. 

 From the California-Nevada Annual Conference, United Methodist News Service
Pennsylvania, is a member at Los Gatos, Calif., United Methodist Church.
has learned that the mother of Mark Bingham, killed on United Flight 93 in

Gina Wingo, wife of a United Methodist pastor in Pocahontas, Ark., described
Low, her cousin, as a "very beautiful young lady who loved her job as a
flight attendant and was very passionate about flying.  She was really
enjoying life."

Low was the daughter of Mike and Bobbie Low of Batesville.  During high
school, she was active in the church's youth program.  She attended the
University of Arkansas and worked in the family business at Batesville
before embarking on a career in the airline industry.  She was residing in
New York City at the time of the crash and had recently moved into a new
apartment.

Low was not scheduled to work Flight 11, but volunteered as a substitute
when another employee cancelled.  The plane was carrying 81 passengers, nine
flight attendants and two pilots.

"It just doesn't seem real, when you watch it on TV, that that's part of
your family," Wingo said.  "When they say, 'our prayers go out to the
families,' it's difficult to realize that applies to your family."

Like many other churches,  the Batesville congregation held a prayer service
the night of the crash.  Several people were moved to share eulogies and
memories of Low, said the Rev. LaVon Post, senior pastor.

"She was a Batesville girl," Post said, "so like the rest of the country,
we're still in a stupor, walking around in a daze.  And then to find out we
lost one of ours ... Batesville is hurting with the rest of the country."

When Alice Hogland's son called from the plane that ultimately crashed in
Pennsylvania, it cheered and shocked her, according to a news report filed
by California-Nevada communicator Ted Langdell.  

"Hi, Mom . . .I love you very much," Mark Bingham told his mother from the
Boeing 757.  "I'm calling you from the plane. We've been taken over.  There
are three men that say they have a bomb."

Bingham, 31, was a public relations executive who lived and worked in San
Francisco.  In the phone conversation, he indicated that he and several
other passenger were planning to do something about the hijacking, his
mother told reporters.  Then he was apparently distracted and the phone went
dead, she said.

The flight had 37 other passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants on
board. It took off from Newark, N.J.,  bound for San Francisco when it was
hijacked.   

The Rev. Margo Tenold, a former pastor at Los Gatos Church, said Hogland was
showing "remarkable strength and  poise and faith in the face of her loss."
She was interviewed on NBC's "Today Show," agreeing with the host that her
son's phone call was a gift.  Hearing from him directly made his death
easier to take, she said.

Another report of a United Methodist family in Arkansas had a much happier
ending.  Bob Moore, organist and church administrator at First United
Methodist Church in Russellville, told of the narrow escape from the World
Trade Center by his only son, Robert, a member of the Russellville Church.  

In an e-mail message to the United Methodist offices in Little Rock, he said
his son, who works on the 78 th floor of the World Trade Center Tower Two,
set his alarm for 6:30 a.m., to go in early but hit the snooze button and
went back to sleep. 

"He arrived about five minutes after the plane hit," his father said. "When
he got off the subway, he looked up and the buildings were a ball of fire."
Moore stood briefly with a co-worker and witnessed the horror, then fled,
according to his father.  "He got back to his apartment in mid- Manhattan
and went up to the roof and watched the buildings crumble."

The elder Moore said he was getting ready for work when his wife saw the
news and called him.  Soon the church's pastor, the Rev. Mackey Yokem, and
other friends and relatives came to the home and started praying. 

"The phone kept ringing and each time we prayed that it was Robert calling,"
Moore said. "After about an hour and a half that seemed like an eternity,
Robert finally called.  He had lost his cell phone and was in a state of
shock when he called. ... Everyone in our living room screamed for joy when
I said it was Robert."  

Moore said his first impulse was to shout for joy and praise God that Robert
was alive. But then he began to think about the other parents.  "I am deeply
saddened about the thought of those parents that will never get this call
from their child.  My wife and I offer our most heartfelt prayers for these
parents, and for our country and the leaders of our country."

# # #

*McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service, the church's
official news agency headquartered in Nashville with offices in New York and
Washington. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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