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On September 10, 2001, Lisa Beamer, 32, was an anonymous New Jersey homemaker and mom of two toddlers, David, 3, and Andrew, 18 months. Happily married since 1994, she and her husband, Todd, a successful software salesman, had just returned home from a business-related vacation. Their schedules were about to jump into full swing with Todd's frequent business travel, their many church involvements, the start of David's first year of preschool, and the upcoming birth of their third child, due in January. Life was busy, full, and good. Then—September 11 happened.
That sunny Tuesday morning, as three terrorist-controlled planes transformed into the fiery missiles that plunged into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a life-and-death struggle ensued on United Flight 93, which had departed from Newark to San Francisco. Some speculate the hijacked plane was headed for the U.S. Capitol; no one will ever know. Whatever the terrorists' intent, their plot was foiled by the 40 passengers aboard who'd been alerted to the other terrorist attacks through cell-phone calls to loved ones. Faced with the probability of their own deaths, passengers sought to overtake the hijackers of Flight 93. That struggle, captured on a 30-minute cockpit recording, ultimately ended in a violent crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Everyone aboard the flight perished, including Todd, traveling for business. Todd's final phone conversation with GTE Airfone operator Lisa Jefferson vividly displayed his faith and courage as he prayed The Lord's Prayer with her, then issued the rallying cry to fellow passengers: "Let's roll!"
Todd's heroic words and actions thrust a grieving Lisa, five months pregnant, into the national spotlight with interviews on Larry King Live, PrimeTime Live, and Good Morning America, among others. Her photo appeared in magazines ranging from People to the National Enquirer. And President George W. Bush even introduced Lisa to a devastated nation during his address before Congress on September 20. Lisa quickly became a symbol of dignity and grace—a grace she readily admits came from the faith in Jesus Christ she and Todd have had since early childhood.
Lisa's Christian faith also led her to create The Todd M. Beamer Foundation, whose goal is to assist children dealing with a family trauma, whether 9-11 related or otherwise, to make heroic choices despite their difficult circumstances, as Todd did on Flight 93. Lisa also wrote a book scheduled to release this September entitled Let's Roll (Tyndale), the proceeds of which will assist the foundation. In it she shares details of her childhood, her father's sudden death when she was a teen, her courtship and marriage to Todd, and how their faith impacted their lives up until September 11—and beyond.
TCW visited Lisa in her New Jersey home just one day after she and the other families of Flight 93 victims met for an unprecedented listen to the cockpit flight recording of the final violent moments of Flight 93. While she contently nursed baby daughter Morgan, born January 9, Lisa shared in this exclusive interview her grief and her hope in Jesus Christ.
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