Friends, families of 9/11 victims, valley’s Muslim community rejoice
Barbara Edwards was trying to get home to Las Vegas for her friend’s birthday on Sept. 11, 2001, when she died on American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.
The birthday girl, Gail Fahy, a fellow French teacher at Palo Verde High School, remembers going into denial over her friend’s death, imagining alternate possibilities such as Edwards oversleeping and missing the early morning flight or even that “the flight number was wrong, anything that would help us get over that tragedy.”
In contrast, Fahy welcomed Sunday’s news of the death of Osama bin Laden, believing that the “emotional roller coaster” of 9/11 had finally rolled to a stop.
“Yesterday felt like a relief,” Fahy said Monday at a news conference at the high school in Summerlin. “We could finally put to rest something that has been going on for 10 years.”
Across Southern Nevada on Monday, news of bin Laden’s death brought somber remembrances from 9/11 victims’ families and friends, joy and relief from Muslims and renewed calls for vigilance from authorities.
Kevin Hagood, a math teacher and Edwards’ friend, said he would often “flash back to certain times and certain things that happened before and after (9/11).”
Hagood also looked at bin Laden’s death as “a step forward into another chapter.”
Both Fahy and Hagood said their memories of Edwards have taught them to keep a positive outlook. Edwards was someone who embraced the world in all its complexity and diversity.
“She believed in foreign exchange programs, travel and promoting languages,” Fahy said. “She believed in life being a wonderful experience and not to work so hard you that you didn’t enjoy your life.”
Edwards was 58 when she died, Fahy said. She had moved to Las Vegas after a divorce and began working at Palo Verde in 1998.
She was so much fun that she came to school dressed up as a McDonald’s french fry on Halloween, her friends said.
The northwest valley school has multiple memorials to Edwards in Fahy’s classroom, the school library and a corner of its soccer field, but Fahy and Hagood are among just a few of the current staff who worked with her a decade ago.
Students today remember very little of 9/11, but the thought of a teacher from their school dying in the catastrophe is still “shocking,” said Aaron Masters, 16.
Ali Dakka, 16, a Muslim student who attends Palo Verde, was relieved at the news of bin Laden’s death.
“Of course,” Dakka said. “He was a crazy man.”
Aslam Abdullah, director of the Islamic Society of Nevada, said he and other Muslims celebrated the death of bin Laden, a man who brought so much damage to Muslims and the world.
“It was a monumental joy for me,” Abdullah said. “The Muslim community is no different than the rest of the American community in welcoming this news.”
Many Muslims also had a “sigh of relief” that the face of world terrorism was dead, he said.
Muslims in America and elsewhere have often taken the brunt of the 9/11 fallout, becoming scapegoats for radical Islamists, facing increased scrutiny when traveling and looks of suspicion in the community, he said.
With bin Laden’s death, Abdullah said he hoped relations between Muslims and other communities will stabilize after a decade of troubles.
He also thought bin Laden’s death would diminish al-Qaida’s financial and recruiting resources so much that it would become a toothless organization and further drive radicals to the fringes of the Muslim world.
“Osama bin Laden was not a leader of Muslims. He was seen as an enemy of Muslims,” Abdullah said.
Around Nevada, authorities said there were no reports of specific threats to Nevada but repeated the need to remain vigilant and report suspicious behavior.
Nellis Air Force Base increased its security posture Monday from Alpha to Bravo, the second level of a four-tiered force protection alert system. Spokesman Chuck Ramey said visitors and military personnel entering the base should expect delays from enhanced security checks.
The Rev. Bill Minson, who has worked with hundreds of 9/11 victims’ families with the Red Cross, was in Las Vegas when he heard the news.
“It’s a very, very exciting time to see some justice for them,” he said. “This is a gift from God, that this evil has been removed from the Earth.”
Former Strip headliner and world-class golfer Don Cherry lost his son, Stephen, in the World Trade Center.
The 87-year-old Las Vegas resident said bin Laden’s death gave him satisfaction but didn’t fill the void created by the loss of his son.
“Poor Stephen is gone, and he’ll never come back,” he said. “But I’m glad they got rid of this man.”
Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281. Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report.
