Sept. 11 Widow Dies in Buffalo Plane Crash

WASHINGTON (Feb. 13) - One of the victims of Continental Flight 3407, Beverly Eckert, was a Sept. 11 widow who put her never-ending grief to good use to make the country safer.

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Just last week, Eckert was at the White House with Barack Obama, part of a meeting the president had with relatives of those killed in the 2001 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole to discuss how the new administration would handle terror suspects.

"She was such an important part of all of our work," said Mary Fetchet, another 9/11 family activist. She learned Eckert was aboard the plane from another close Eckert family friend now headed to Buffalo. Officials investigating the crash have not yet confirmed she was on board the plane.

Eckert, who was flying to Buffalo to celebrate what would have been her husband Sean Rooney's 58th birthday, was one of the most visible, tearful faces in the aftermath of the terror attacks.

She cried as she told the story about how her husband — her high school sweetheart — was on the phone in the World Trade Center telling her he loved her when suddenly there was a loud explosion and nothing more.

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She carried that grief to Congress as she tried to make the government do a better job protecting its citizens from terrorism.

Eckert was part of a small group of Sept. 11 widows, mothers, and children who became amateur lobbyists, ultimately forcing lawmakers in 2004 to pass sweeping reforms of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.

They spent months walking the halls of Congress. All of the women were grieving, but Eckert seemed unable or uninterested in holding back her tears.

When it was over and they'd won passage of the intelligence reform law, Eckert vowed to quit her high-profile role "cold turkey." All she wanted, she said, was to go home, buy groceries, and return to something like a regular life.

"I did all of this for Sean's memory, I did it for him," she said, crying again. "There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. ... I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else's Sean will get to come home."

Eckert was flying to her hometown Thursday night when the plane crashed on approach to the Buffalo airport.

The names of passengers have not been officially released, although information about some of those on board has trickled out. Airline officials identified the crew as Capt. Marvin Renslow, pilot; first officer Rebecca Shaw; and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. An off-duty crew member on board was Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto.

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After the 2001 attacks, Eckert co-chaired the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of activists devoted to exposing government failures that led up to the 2001 attacks, and fixing them.

She pushed for a 9/11 Commission. She pushed the Bush administration to provide more information to the commission. And when the commission's work was over, she pushed Congress to adopt their recommendations.

It was not an easy role for her.

One night after a long day at Congress, she found herself in the New York City train station, without a connecting train to her Connecticut home.

"We slept in the train station. We had no place else to go. That's when you look at yourself and say, 'What am I doing? How can we possibly get this done?'."

As Congress hemmed and hawed, Eckert vowed to sleep there, too, if it would get the law passed.

After the law passed, Eckert turned her energies to Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for low-income families.

"I'm in shock, I just can't believe it," said Carie Lemack, whose mother died Sept. 11 on one of the hijacked planes. "Beverly had a can-do attitude about everything, and she never gave up."

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Continental Crash

This image obtained February 13, 2009 courtesy of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York shows the firefighters on the scene after a commercial plane crashed into a house on February 12, 2009 in Clarence Center, New York, a few miles from the airport in Buffalo. All 48 passengers and crew, plus one person on the ground, were killed when a plane crashed into a house outside Buffalo, New York and burst into flames, officials said. CREDIT MANDATORY: WGRZ-TV VIA AFP == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters are seen at the site of the wreckage of a Continental Express flight, which crashed near Buffalo, New York February 13, 2009. A plane with 48 people on board crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York, and burst into flames late on Thursday, and MSNBC quoted the Federal Aviation Administration as saying there were no survivors on the plane. REUTERS/Gary Wiepert (UNITED STATES)

Reuters

A view of the wreckage of a Continental Express flight, which crashed near Buffalo, New York February 13, 2009. A plane with 48 people on board crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York, and burst into flames late on Thursday, and MSNBC quoted the Federal Aviation Administration as saying there were no survivors on the plane. REUTERS/Gary Wiepert (UNITED STATES)

Reuters

This image obtained February 13, 2009 courtesy of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York shows the firefighters on the scene after a commercial plane crashed into a house on February 12, 2009 in Clarence Center, New York, a few miles from the airport in Buffalo. US media reported the Continental Airlines plane, with 48 people aboard, was arriving from Newark, New Jersey before crashing some eight kilometers (five miles) from the airport. Several people were killed, including one on the ground, officials told reporters, but they declined to confirm reports that all 48 people on board were killed. CREDIT MANDATORY: WGRZ-TV VIA AFP == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters spray water on a fire on Clarence Center Road involving an airplane and a home Thursday Feb. 12, 2009. New York state police say a 50-passenger commuter plane has crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo. There was no immediate information on injuries. State Trooper John Manthey says the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. Thursday. (AP Photo/Harry Scull Jr -The Buffalo News)

This image obtained February 13, 2009 courtesy of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York shows the firey scene after a commercial plane crashed into a house on February 12, 2009 in Clarence Center, New York, a few miles from the airport in Buffalo. US media reported the Continental Airlines plane, with 48 people aboard, was arriving from Newark, New Jersey before crashing some eight kilometers (five miles) from the airport. Several people were killed, including one on the ground, officials told reporters, but they declined to confirm reports that all 48 people on board were killed. CREDIT MANDATORY: WGRZ-TV VIA AFP == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

Smoke rises from a burning plane after it crashed into a house in Clarence Center, N.Y., Thursday Feb. 12, 2009. New York state police say a Continental Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., a 50-passenger commuter plane, has crashed into a home in suburban Buffalo. Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonet says there have been "multiple fatalities" after a Continental Express plane with 48 people aboard crashed into a suburban Buffalo home and erupted in flames. Bissonet says the crash killed at least one person on the ground and an unknown number of people on the plane. State Trooper John Manthey says the plane hit a house in Clarence around 10:10 p.m. Thursday. (AP Photo/David Duprey)

A plane burns after it crashed into a house in Clarence Center, N.Y., Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009. New York State Police say the plane was a 50-passenger commuter aircraft.(AP Photo/David Duprey)

This image obtained February 13, 2009 from WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York shows firefighter on the scene after a commercial plane crashed into a house on February 12, 2009 in Clarence Center, New York, a few miles from the airport in Buffalo. US media reported the Continental Airlines plane, with 48 people aboard, was arriving from Newark, New Jersey before crashing some eight kilometers (five miles) from the airport. Several people were killed, including one on the ground, officials told reporters, but they declined to confirm reports that all 48 people on board were killed. CREDIT MANDATORY: WGRZ-TV VIA AFP == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / NO SALES / GETTY OUT == (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images