Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on 9/11 one woman was from the Coachella Valley

by Coachella Valley | September 10, 2021 8:53 pm

2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on September 11th during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and one special woman was from our own community here in the Coachella Valley.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum by Frankie B. Alvarez

Barbara Keating was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles when her plane was taken over by hijackers. She was heading home to Palm Springs, California.

9/11 will always go down as one of the worst days in history for the United States. A student from New York University, Caroline Dries posted raw footage from that day…[1]

The 9/11 terrorist attacks are forever etched in the hearts and minds of the Palm Springs community. Keating was a passenger on a United flight heading back to California from Boston that fateful day when terrorists crashed the plane into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

9/11: A Tribute to Barbara A. Keating (1928-2001)

Bloggers honor the innocent victims of that fateful day…

Barbara A. Keating, age 72.
Place killed: American Airlines Flight 11.
Resident of Palm Springs, Calif. (USA).
Special notes: Passenger.

9/11 Memorial, New York City, NY by Frankie B. Alvarez

9/11 Memorial, New York City, NY by Frankie B. Alvarez

. . .
To Barbara,
God bless you, Barbara for what you endured that day; a greater challenge the world may never witness and should never endure.
. . .
Other Tributes and Quotes:
Barbara Keeting: Receptionist, parish office, St. Theresa Catholic Church.
From NewsDay

Sept. 14, 2001
Palm Springs resident Barbara Keating, 72, a widowed grandmother and mother of five grown children, was an active member of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church.

For eight years, Keating had worked with the Altar Society–the “ladies’ guild”–and assisted the nonprofit Catholic Charities group, according to Linda Sardone, the church’s office manager.

“About six months ago, she became a volunteer in the parish office,” Sardone said. “Every morning, without fail, she would be there helping out.”

Keating was returning home after a vacation in Cape Cod and a visit with family on the New Jersey shore

Tuesday night, about 300 parishioners at St. Theresa’s met and prayed for Keating and the other victims of the day’s violence.

“She was a kind, gentle lady. . . . She always had a smile on her face,” Sardone said. “Very religious. Not only did she go to church, but she lived her faith.

“There are not many people like that left in the world.”

The Los Angeles Times
******
Sept. 17, 2001
After her husband’s death, Barbara Keating moved from Cape Cod to Palm Springs, Calif.

Every summer she returned to Massachusetts for a few months to visit. This summer, though, would be her last, she said, because her friends in Massachusetts were dwindling.

On her flight back to California, Keating died when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
“She was a wonderful woman, always had a smile on her face,” said Rev. Philip Behan, pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Palm Springs.

Keating, 72, worked as a receptionist at the parish office. She could often be seen driving around Palm Springs in a red convertible sports car, always with the top down.

“Usually, she and a few other women would be driving around, even in the winter when it gets sort of cold, she had that top down,” Behan said. “She also liked to celebrate. Her drink was always a martini with extra olives.”

— John Chase (The Chicago Tribune)
Contented Grandmother:

Barbara Keating spent 25 years in public service, 10 as executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Middlesex, outside Boston.

She was widowed almost 20 years ago and survived two occurrences of breast cancer. At 72, she split her time between Cape Cod, Mass., and Palm Springs, Calif., where she drove a red Sebring convertible and went to church every day.

She was someone you would not talk back to, said Paul Keating, one of her five children; she was smart, tough, professional and funny. “The joke was she could always find a restaurant with a good martini,” he said. She took hers dry, with two olives.

She planned her year around visits with her 12 grandchildren, in Texas, Massachusetts and California.

A longtime friend, Eunice Maloney, remembers her quiet kindnesses. “She drove people for cancer treatments,” she said. “She was always doing something for somebody, but she never said much about it.”

Ms. Maloney remembers talking to her about five days before she was killed on American Airlines Flight 11 as she was returning to California from a visit with her East Coast grandchildren.

“She told me she was very happy with her life,” Ms. Maloney said. “Later she left me a note that said she was very glad for my friendship. I thought maybe she wouldn’t be coming back to the Cape. Little did I know.”

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on June 16, 2002.

After her husband’s death, Barbara Keating moved from Cape Cod to Palm Springs, Calif.
Every summer she returned to Massachusetts for a few months to visit. This summer, though, would be her last, she said, because her friends in Massachusetts were dwindling.
On her flight back to California, Keating died when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
“She was a wonderful woman, always had a smile on her face,” said Rev. Philip Behan, pastor of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Palm Springs.

Keating, 72, worked as a receptionist at the parish office. She could often be seen driving around Palm Springs in a red convertible sports car, always with the top down.

“Usually, she and a few other women would be driving around, even in the winter when it gets sort of cold, she had that top down,” Behan said. “She also liked to celebrate. Her drink was always a martini with extra olives.”

Thoughts about Barbara Keating, who was on American Airlines Flight 11 – His thoughts turn to friend lost year ago
By HARRY F. THEMAL
The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware
09/09/2002

At 8:46 Wednesday morning, I will join many other Americans observing a long moment of silence to mark the anniversary of the deaths of nearly 3,000 innocent victims of foreign terrorism.

My primary thoughts will be of Barbara Keating, a friend to my wife Betty Ann and me, who was one of the first to die that day. She was a passenger on the first jet to crash into the World Trade Tower in New York City. It is impossible for us to imagine what it must have been like on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston to Los Angeles, as the murderers took over that plane.

We got to know Barbara more than 50 years ago when she worked alongside Betty Ann as a medical technologist in the Memorial Hospital, a facility long since gone from Lovering Avenue and Van Buren Street in Wilmington. She was then Barbara Kinsey, a south Jersey gal and a histologist in the hospital lab. We attended her wedding to Bill Keating, visited them and their eventual five children at their home in Framingham, Mass., and kept in touch through the years.

We shared another common interest besides our children. We loved Cape Cod, where we used to summer and where Barbara settled after the death of her husband in 1983.
She eventually began to feel isolated there, particularly in the winter. She fell in love with Palm Springs, Calif., after a 1996 visit.

So she bought a condo there in Canyon Springs as her new home and sold her place on the Cape. She continued to summer in a rental at the Cape but decided that 2001 would be the last time. Barbara was on her way home to California on Sept. 11 when she took Flight 11 out of Logan Airport.

Her last summer:

A friend who took her to the airport said she brought a photo album chronicling her summer to share during planned visits to her four sons, her daughter and 13 grandchildren around the country.

Barbara Keating was family-minded and civic-minded, as one of her sons summed up in one of the many Internet postings and newspaper articles that were filled with love and sorrow following her death. Another son described her as “smart, tough, professional and funny, someone you would not talk back to.”

For 10 years she was executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Middlesex, outside Boston. Upon her 1991 retirement, the Massachusetts Senate honored her. She had served as the regional representative for all of New England at national meetings, including one in Philadelphia. That was where we last saw her. An official of the organization said after her death, “She was very passionate about our role of trying to provide a missing link in kids’ lives.”

After she moved to California, she attended Mass daily at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Palm Springs, where she served as receptionist and did other volunteer work. A two-time survivor of breast cancer, she drove women to cancer treatments in her red Sebring convertible.

On Wednesday morning, a tree will be planted in her memory at the development where she lived. Her church will have a service in her memory and that of the other victims. Palm Springs also will have a community-wide observance.

Perhaps the ultimate tragedy of this wonderful woman’s death was described in a letter we received from her daughter, Pat. “Ironically, her next planned adventure, a trip to the Holy Land, was cancelled earlier [in July] for fear of terrorism.”

Harry F. Themal has been writing for The News Journal since 1959.

Barbara Keating, 72, of Palm Springs, Calif., devoted her life to social service, first through Big Brothers, Big Sisters in Massachusetts and later in Palm Springs through St. Theresa’s Catholic Church.

She survived two bouts of breast cancer and the loss in 1983 of her husband, daughter Joann Anderson says. “She got rejuvenated the more time she put into St. Theresa.

She really started to get back into the swing of things. I think she was proud of the accomplishments of her children. And of herself for living a full life.” She leaves five children.

— Jay Dooling

American Airlines Flight 11 Details

On September 11, Flight 11 “carried 81 passengers (including the 5 terrorists) with 2 pilots and 9 flight attendants, for a total of 92 people on board” (Source). American Airlines list was as follows (names were only included where the family gave their permission):

September 12, 2001, 11:55 a.m. CST
AMERICAN RELEASES PRELIMINARY PASSENGER LISTS FOR FLIGHTS INVOLVED IN YESTERDAY�S TERRORIST ATTACKS
FORT WORTH, Texas

American Airlines is releasing a preliminary, partial passenger list and a crew list for its flights involved in yesterday’s terrorist attacks.
The following is a list of passengers whose next-of-kin have been notified. American has honored the requests of those families who have asked that their loved ones’ names not be included.
Passengers
Anna Allison
David Angell
Lynn Angell
Seima Aoyama
Myra Aronson
Christine Barbuto
Carol Bouchard
Neilie Casey
Jeffrey Coombs
Tara Creamer
Thelma Cuccinello
Patrick Currivan
Andrew Curry Green
Brian Dale
David Dimeglio
Donald Ditullio
Albert Dominguez
Al Filipov
Carol Flyzik
Paul Friedman
Karleton Fyfe
Peter Gay
Linda George
Edmund Glazer
Page Hackel Farley
Peter Hashem
Robert Hayes
Edward Hennessy
John Hofer
Cora Holland
Nicholas Humber
John Jenkins
Charles Jones
Robin Kaplan
Barbara Keating

Endnotes:
  1. posted raw footage from that day…: https://coachellavalley.com/911-video/

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