Flight 93 Memorial

SunTimes:

She recounted that Jefferson at first doubted Beamer because he was so calm. She explained, “Todd loved his life but he knew that his life was much more than his 32 years on this Earth. His soul was secure, even when his body wasn’t, because Jesus was his savior.”

The children of Todd and Lisa Beamer, David, Drew and Morgan —born in the months following 9-11 — all went on to attend Wheaton College.

In 2006, Jefferson and former WBBM anchor Felicia Middlebrooks wrote a book about that day, “Called,” published by an arm of the Moody Bible Institute. Jefferson wrote about how Todd Beamer “sounded so tranquil it made me begin to doubt the authenticity and urgency of the call.”

“I could hear the cries and screams in the background as Todd Beamer painted in vivid detail the occurrences aboard the plane on that awful day,” said Jefferson.

Lisa Beamer told the story to students — many not born in 2001 — of her husband’s last call. And how Beamer asked Jefferson to “pray the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 with him.”

And after that, Beamer and other passengers, heroes all, executed their plan to stop the terrorists. Said Beamer, “Let’s roll.”

Post-Gazette:

Toward the end of his conversation with Jefferson, Beamer said the plane appeared to have changed directions a few times. Later, it would be determined that it had flown west from Newark to near Cleveland, then turned back to the southeast toward Pittsburgh.

Beamer became anxious.

“Oh! We’re going down!” he shouted at one point.

He paused, then said in a calmer voice, “No, we’re OK. I think we’re turning around.”

Beamer then told Jefferson that he and the others had decided to “jump on” the hijacker wearing the bomb.

Jefferson could hear shouts and commotion and then Beamer asked her to pray with him. They recited the 23rd Psalm.

He got Jefferson to promise that she would call his family, then dropped the phone, leaving the line open.

That’s when Jefferson heard what Lisa Beamer believes were her husband’s last words: “Let’s roll.”

Then there was silence. Jefferson hung up at 10 a.m. EST, realizing that the plane had gone down. Officials said it crashed at 9:58 a.m.