Toledo, Ohio – The moments Grace Maxwell shared with his grandfather over the years were “his greatest joy.” And a trip home to Wichita, Kansas, allowed the 20 -year -old to be next to him one last time.
Maxwell, a mechanical engineering student, returned to university only one day after her grandfather’s funeral when she and another 66 were killed in Wednesday’s collision between a Jet American Airlines and an army helicopter on Washington, DC
One of the other victims was a young lawyer from the capital of the nation whose meeting in Wichita ended early enough to make a return flight for her birthday celebration. Another was a police colonel whose house was in the Philippines, but whose work took Kansas to review the team that the force planned to buy.
When Maxwell’s classmates filled the banks of the Chapel of the University of Cedarville on Friday, they joined others in mourning for the unique and clinging unique lives to make sense of the random circumstances that put friends and loved ones in Harm’s in Harm’s in Harm’s Way on Wednesday night.
“Can you imagine losing a father and seven days later losing a child?” The president of Cedarville, Thomas White, told those gathered at the University in southwest Ohio.
Maxwell was known on campus for his devotion to helping others, working this semester to make a stabilizer device by hand to help a disabled child to feed and attribute to the Student Radio Station, the school said.
“We don’t know why a young, bright and bright star was removed too soon,” White said.
The coincidence and fleeting decisions led many of the passengers on flight 5342.
Elizabeth Anne Keys, a lawyer, had traveled to Wichita on a business trip and worried that she could not celebrate her 33rd birthday in Washington with her lifelong partner, David Seidman.
But his working meeting concluded with plenty of time, which allowed him to take the flight on his birthday and make plans for the couple to drink late drinks that night, Seidman said.
“I was super excited.”
Keys, originally from Cincinnati, and Seidman, from New York, met as Law students at the University of Georgetown in Washington. The capital became his city, and Keys was infinitely energetic while exploring it together.
He touched the saxophone, oboe and bassoon at high school and was in the university navigation team. He loved to make ski trips to the west, walk in Hawaii and entertain friends around the fire of his house, his family said.
Seidman said he had never skied until she encouraged him to give him a chance. She wanted to try the golf below, and planned to take classes.
“It was like that for everything,” he said. “She was without stopping all the time.”
PERGENTINO Malabed Jr. was more than 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) and 13 hours of his house in the Philippines. As head of supplies management for the strength of the National Police of 232,000 officers of his country, Malabed traveled to Wichita for the inspection of the team.
“His premature death is a deep loss for the National Police of the Philippines, where he served with honor, with integrity and dedication throughout his career,” the force said in a statement.
Malabed and dozens of others boarded the plane as many do it every day, forming an instant community, even if only for a few hours, of disparate travelers, many of which probably shared little connection, if there is.
Kiah Duggins, a civil rights lawyer and professor at Howard, returned to Washington after a visit to Wichita, where she was raised and still has a family.
When growing, it served in the student government, created a food bank and was a mentor of girls, many blacks like her, encouraging them to go to university. She went to Harvard’s Law Faculty and worked as an intern in the White House of President Barack Obama. And in Howard he remained an defender of others, said Bobby Gandu, director of admissions of the University.
“She was always a voice for students who had no voice or who were disregarded,” Gandu said. “And he bowed to this discomfort, as we like to say here, and used his voice and his opportunities to lift others.”
Asra Hussain, 26, returned to Washington from a work trip to a Wichita hospital. The Native of Carmel, Indiana, obtained undergraduate and postgraduate titles in the medical care administration, before she and her husband were established in the capital.
On Friday, one of his former professors from the University of Indiana recalled Hussain’s work ethics, the positive attitude and his ability to ask difficult questions.
“He stood out from the beginning,” said Paul Helmke. “She was immediately a rising star.”
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Wendy Shaffer’s friends fought to explain the loss of the living mother whose two young children were her pride and joy.
“Her love, kindness and unwavering spirit touched everyone who knew her,” wrote Friends of the Family in a fundraising site. “And his absence leaves a vacuum that can never be filled.”
____ Geller reported from New York. Associated Press Jim Gómez journalists in Manila; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Christine Fernando in Chicago; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.
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