Flight 93 Memorial - Ten years ago, La Jolla County Day alum Deora Bodley died as the youngest passenger of Flight 93 that went down in rural southwestern Pennsylvania on 9/11. Deora was just 20 years old and returning to college at Santa Clara University after a visit with high school friends in New Jersey. Today, her mother, Deborah Borza continues to spread the message of love and community service her daughter spread in life.
Deborah, like many other family members, joined the Families of Flight 93, the Flight 93 Advisory Commission, the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force and the National Park Foundation in building a national memorial to commemorate the 40 passengers and crew who courageously gave their lives on 9/11 and prevented a planned attack on our nation's capital.
For this year's 10th anniversary, Deborah—along with Deora's sister, Murial, and Deora's stepdad, Marc—will travel to the crash site to remember Deora and to take part in the official dedication of Flight 93 National Memorial on Sept. 10, a memorial Deborah helped bring to fruition, and to be part of the anniversary service at the new memorial on Sept. 11.
Deborah said she and her family travel to the site for each anniversary, "and that is where we will be again this year."
Deora was very active as a student at La Jolla Country Day and at Santa Clara University, where she was studying psychology and French. She was active with America Reads and volunteered at an elementary school close to campus. While a resident of San Diego, she was active with TRACE—Teens Respond to AIDS with Caring Education and volunteered with the Special Olympics.
"It was important for her to be there for others, which was a lot of who she was," said Deborah.
Deborah remembers the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, very clearly. She first heard the news of the crash in New York while getting ready for work at home. She said Deora's boyfriend's mother called her to inform her that Deora had taken an earlier flight as a standby passenger that morning and Deora was on Flight 93 that just crashed in a Pennsylvania field.
"I didn't want to believe her," remembers Deborah. Deborah called United that morning, but it was not until 12:20 p.m. PST that United returned her call and confirmed that Deora was in fact on Flight 93.
On that day, the world changed for Deborah, for Deora's family, for Deora's friends, her classmates and everyone else in the world.
Marc still vividly remembers they day he met Deora when she was just 6 years old.
"I can still see her sitting on the steps in front of her apartment with Debby [Deborah's nickname]," said Marc in an email. "I was immediately struck with her vocabulary and her ability to express herself. She made having an instant family a joy. The joy never stopped. She was always the sweetest girl, which was repeated with Murial, my daughter with Debby. I was a lucky father indeed."
Marc said, "It's easy to say that Deora excelled academically, but a far better example of who she was is to give an example of her being a loving big sister to Murial.
"When Murial was still an infant, Debby and I wondered if there would be jealousy issues with Deora. There were, but not the way one might expect. Deora was not jealous of the attention given to Murial as opposed to herself. She was jealous because SHE wanted to be the one taking care of her sweet little sister," Marc said in an email. "She was SO upset when she had a cold and her mother and I asked her to stay away from Murial to keep Murial from getting sick. Deora wanted to be as close to Murial as possible all the time ... that relationship never wavered."
This year, La Jolla Country Day's senior class donated a flagpole in her memory. The dedication of the flagpole, which was erected in the football stadium, was scheduled to be a part of a Sept. 9 ceremony at halftime of the Torreys' football game on campus.
Each year, La Jolla Country Day Alumni Association has awarded a service award in honor of Deora, who graduated County Day in 1999. This award, given each year since 2001, recognizes one or two students who best exemplify Deora's spirit of service to both the school and the community.
Related Topics: 9/11, Debby Borza, Deora Bodley, Flight 93, Flight 93 Memorial Park, La Jolla, La Jolla Country Day, Passenger, Shanksville, and san diego
