A decade ago, Sept. 11 changed our lives forever. But Sept. 12 turned out to be even more devastating to the University of Washington family.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks took the life of one Husky – Army Sgt. Maj. Larry Strickland, who was killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, where he was working. Strickland enrolled at the UW as a freshman in 1968 but left school in 1971, two quarters shy of graduating, to join the Army.
While 9/11 sent us reeling, the tragedy of the following day left us speechless when word came that 16 alumni and Husky football fans died in the crash of a sightseeing plane in Mexico. They were taking part, with 1,200 other Husky fans, in a weeklong Caribbean cruise destined for Miami, site of a much-anticipated game between the Huskies and the Miami Hurricanes.
While time has helped make the excruciating pain of those awful days ease the pain, our memories of those 17 Huskies will be with us forever.
Killed Sept. 11 at the Pentagon:
Army Sgt. Maj. Larry Strickland
Killed Sept. 12 in the Mexico plane crash:
Karen Owsley Burks, ’86
Scott Columbia, ’88
Charles, ’52, and Shirley, ’45, Genther
Mary Kearney
Barbara Ann Martin, ’67
Dwight and Lois Martin
Larry and Linda Schwab
Lisa Marie Styer, ’87
Geoff, ’65, and Judy, ’62, Vernon
Larry, ’63, ’64, and Judy Wade
Theodore D. Zylstra, ’57