Legacy of good, absence of hate
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Norman Wahlstrom Jr. likes to listen to George Gershwin recordings on a player piano in his family's music room. He does so whenever he wants to remember his mother. The brown Yamaha belonged to her, as did the black Steinway grand piano sitting next to it. Gershwin was his mother's favorite. She could sight-read any of his songs.
"I wish we'd recorded her playing, but I can put in [one of the recordings] and imagine she's playing," he said
He has done that often in the year since his mother, Mary Alice Wahlstrom, was killed Sept. 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Then a member of the Kaysville 17th Ward, Kaysville Utah East Stake, of which her son is a member, she and her daughter, Carolyn Beug, were on the first plane to strike the towers. And they were two of five members of the Church who lost their lives on the attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
Members killed that day included:
- Sister Wahlstrom, 75, who was
accompanying her daughter home from the east coast after taking the
latter's twin daughters to an art school in Rhode Island.
- Sister Beug, 48, who lived in Los Angeles
and who was a Hollywood musician acclaimed for her work on the Disney
soundtrack, "Pocahontas. " She and her mother were on American Airlines
Flight 11 from Boston, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif.
- Brady Howell, 26, of the Crystal City
Ward, Mount Vernon Virginia Stake, who was working in the Strategy Policy
and Intelligence Community Affairs Division of Naval Intelligence at the
Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
- Rhonda Rasmussen, 44, of the Lake Ridge
2nd Ward, Mount Vernon Virginia Stake, who worked at the Pentagon with her
husband, Floyd. Brother Rasmussen survived the attack.
- Ivan Carpio, 24, a recently baptized
member of the Richmond Hill New York District who was working on the 107th
floor of one of the World Trade Center towers.
These members were among an estimated 2,800 killed the day two planes struck the World Trade Center, one the Pentagon and another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. In Church News interviews with family members two thoughts have been consistent — the reality of the Atonement and the absence of hate.
"I wish I could give everybody a testimony of the gospel," Margaret Wahlstrom said, sitting beside her husband on their back porch on this warm September morning. "You're taught all these things throughout your life and all of a sudden you have to live them. When something bad happens, you find out how strong your testimony is, if you believe in the Atonement — and you find out you do."
"I think we've become more compassionate this past year," Brother Wahlstrom added, emphasizing that he feels no hatred toward a group of people he considers "misdirected" and who, ironically, considered themselves "martyrs to a just case." He said, "It just shows you how polarized the world is. We need missionary work more than ever before."
Brother Wahlstrom often goes to the Tabernacle on Temple Square on Sunday mornings to listen to "Music and the Spoken Word." His mother and father, Norman Sr., were once ushers in the Tabernacle. "Looking over where Mom used to sit by the door, that's tough, but knowing how much Mom loved that music, that's always spiritually uplifting for me. I feel close to Mom at that moment."
There have been many moments of joy for the Wahlstrom family. On Feb. 16, 2002, the Wahlstroms welcomed their first grandchild — the senior Sister Wahlstrom's first great-grandchild — Isabelle Wahlstrom. She is the daughter of Nathan, 25, and Jennie Wahlstrom.
And the Wahlstroms have two children serving missions. Adam, 19, is serving in the Philippines San Pablo Mission, and Maryann, 22, is in the Germany Hamburg Mission. (The other four children are Norman, 26; Andrew, 24; Meredith, 16; and Mallory, 13.) Sister Maryann Wahlstrom is due home in December, just before Christmas.
A year ago on Sept. 11, the young sister missionary was preparing to leave the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, to Salt Lake International for her flight to Germany. When all flights were grounded that morning, she called home to inform her parents — only to learn her grandmother and aunt had been killed. The Missionary Training Center president sent her home for the week, and she joined her sisters, Meredith and Mallory, in performing harp music at the funeral.
As with the Wahlstroms, the birth of a granddaughter also brought a measure of healing to the parents of Brady Howell, Ken and Jeanette Howell of the Morningside 7th Ward, St. George Utah Morningside Stake. Originally from Sugar City, Idaho, where Brady was reared, Brother and Sister Howell were preparing to return home from their mission in St. George when their son was killed at the Pentagon. Their other children include Regan (Jennifer), 38; Ryan (Nicki), 35; Camille (Brad) Mortensen, 29; and Carson (Michelle), 24.
Sitting beside her husband at the home of their daughter, Camille, in Centerville, Utah, Sister Howell said: "We had a new little granddaughter who was born about three months ago and our children (Ryan and Nicki) announced they were expecting that baby (Branda Howell) when we were at Brady's funeral last year. When they told us, they said, 'This is a little spirit Brady will know before we do. Having her come has been a great joy."
Their eyes filling with tears, they spoke of their fun-loving, energetic son, who served a mission to the Canary Islands and, five years before his death, married Elizabeth Anderson — known as Liz to the family. "We don't know her as Elizabeth," Sister Howell said. "She has been wonderful. She has represented him, she has represented us. She has represented the Church."
In the dark days following Sept. 11, when Brady was missing, Brother and Sister Howell said they realized a new gratitude for their testimonies. A corporation in Utah flew them to Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12 — all commercial flights were grounded — so they could be with their daughter-in-law. "The Department of Defense set up a hotel as the headquarters [for relatives of victims] and twice a day in the ballroom we would assemble and we had a briefing by a general on the status of the recovery," Brother Howell said. "By the second or third day, it was getting so emotional for people. They had medical people there because people would pass out and kind of go out of control.
"It became evident to us at that point that if you didn't have the gospel, you were kind of beyond hope. The gospel gave us an anchor at that time in our lives when no one had any answers and the process was wait and wait and wait."
They say they have their good days and their bad days since Brady's death — sometimes good minutes and bad minutes. But they are also amazed at the legacy of good Brady left behind. In the past year, the Brady Kay Howell Foundation was formed, awarding a scholarship to a senior from Sugar Salem (Idaho) High school, from which Brady graduated, and a second scholarship to a graduate student at Syracuse University, where Brady received his master's degree. (Brady received an associate's degree from Ricks College and a bachelor's degree from Utah State University.)
One corporation has already donated thousands of dollars to the foundation, but Brother and Sister Howell seemed most touched by a young man who "gave an unbelievable amount of money for a 14-year-old," said Brother Howell.
In addition, an endowed lecture series begins Sept. 19 at BYU-Idaho. The first lecture will be delivered by Admiral Richard Porterfield, director of Naval Intelligence, who helped establish the series.
There are other events in Brady's honor. There have been service projects at Syracuse University, and a service project by the Jacobsen Center for Service and Learning at BYU was held Aug. 31, during which students packed items for the Church Humanitarian Center.
On Sept. 11, 2002, at 6:30 a.m., members of the Wahlstrom family will gather at the Utah Botanical Gardens for the groundbreaking of a monument to the victims — and heroes — of Sept. 11.
Perhaps saying it best for both the Howell and Wahlstrom families is a comment from young Sister Maryann Wahlstrom in a recent birthday card sent from Germany to her mother:
"This past year has especially been difficult. My emotions have been surfacing lately as the one year mark to September 11th nears us. It's been difficult for me to have had to mourn by myself away from the family. I really haven't lived in reality with it all. My heart aches at the thought of Grandma really being gone. I miss her. But I do know that we are strengthened through our trials . . . as I look back at this past year, my spiritual growth has been enormous. Through my pain, I have joy."
E-mail: julied@desnews.com
