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Attack on America Story index Barbara Edwards Shannon Daigle becomes emotional Wednesday while standing in the kitchen of her best friend, Palo Verde High School teacher Barbara Edwards. Edwards died Tuesday when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett. Barbara Edwards poses with her three sons in this undated family photograph. From left are Mike Edwards, 33, of San Diego, Calif.; Barbara Edwards; Scott Edwards, 28, of Beaufort, S.C.; and Doug Edwards Jr., 32, of Hoboken, N.J. Special to the Review-Journal

Thursday, September 13, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Palo Verde teacher puts a face on national tragedy

Students, family, colleagues mourn Barbara Edwards

Family members of Las Vegas teacher Barbara Edwards were among the millions transfixed Tuesday by televised footage of the destruction wrought by a hijacked airplane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Then came an awful realization.

"We were watching all the bad news when we realized this was the day when Barbara was supposed to be flying back to the West Coast," said Edwards' stepfather, 74-year-old Jack Vander Baan of Michigan.

He and Edwards' mother, Lissy Vander Baan, spent most of Tuesday uncertain whether their daughter had boarded the fatal flight, hoping against hope she hadn't.

Their worst fears were confirmed in a 6 p.m. phone call with American Airlines officials. The news was hardest on Edwards' middle child, New Jersey resident Doug Edwards.

Shortly before he learned that his mother died in the crash at the Pentagon, he was informed that 14 of his friends were killed in a similar attack on the World Trade Center.

"He's really broken up," Vander Baan said. "We're all really worried about him."

Edwards, 58, was one of 64 passengers and crew aboard American Airlines Flight 77, a hijacked commercial aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon.

She was traveling with two friends, part-time Las Vegans Dee and Wilson "Bud" Flagg. Flight attendant Renee May, whose mother lives in Las Vegas, also was on the ill-fated flight.

Friends, family, colleagues and students of Edwards evidenced obvious emotional pain as they discussed her death.

"When I got the news, I just sat up for hours on the couch, crying," said Ryan Smith, who came to know Edwards when they were both foreign language teachers at Palo Verde High School last year.

At the school, Edwards was honored with a moment of silence on Wednesday. In the cafeteria of the northwest Las Vegas high school, a memorial also is taking shape, built with flowers and the written messages of those still staggered by a national tragedy with a personal face. Clark County School District Board members plan to honor Edwards at tonight's meeting.

"Mrs. Edwards was cool," said James Youngblood, a sophomore who took her beginning French class last year. "I couldn't believe it when I came to school and a friend told me our French teacher had died.

"It's just unbelievable."

Edwards was the kind of teacher who would dress up in costumes to liven things up and bring food to class to make a lesson more interesting, Youngblood said. She had a sense of humor, he said, and the look of a person always ready to laugh.

It was a quality Palo Verde staff members also noticed.

"She was just very bubbly," said school counselor Lynne Herman. "She had a great personality. She loved her students and her students loved her."

Art teacher Shannon Daigle met Edwards three years ago while the two taught together at Palo Verde. Almost instantly, they became best friends.

"We were sisters in spirit," an emotional Daigle said Wednesday. "She was my best friend, and now I have an angel. I have an angel who's still looking over me, who still cares about me, who's still watching over me. Selfishly, I'd rather have my best friend here."

Daigle, who now teaches art at Thomas Elementary School, last saw Edwards when she took her to McCarran International Airport just before Labor Day weekend. Edwards was headed for the Sept. 1 wedding of a friend's daughter in Connecticut.

Daigle last heard from Edwards by phone on Sunday, when Edwards said she was extending her vacation, which included a visit with her 32-year-old son, Doug, in New Jersey. After that stop, Edwards took a train to visit the Flaggs on their farm in Millwood, Va.

From there, Daigle said, Edwards planned to return to the West Coast with the Flaggs. On Tuesday morning, the three boarded Flight 77 bound for Los Angeles, where they intended to rent a car and return to Las Vegas.

Daigle said she has been unable to stop thinking about the emotional and physical pain endured by the passengers. "I think her last moments were horrendous," Daigle said.

Edwards' family, scattered across the country, were unable to gather together to support one another this week because of travel restrictions that grounded planes nationwide. They've been keeping in touch by phone and plan a memorial service on Sept. 29 in Michigan. American Airlines offered free travel to Edwards' family, said Vander Baan, a resident of Hopkins, Mich.

Edwards was born in Germany and moved to Michigan when she was 10 years old. She began teaching French and German in the Clark County School District in 1997. Edwards has three sons, two grandchildren and three siblings. She planned to return to teaching at Palo Verde later this month.

In addition to Doug, Edwards left two other sons, Scott Edwards, 28, who lives in South Carolina, and Mike Edwards, 33, of San Diego.

"The world has lost a person who was so wonderful and so generous," said Elfie Manning, who taught with Edwards at the Community College of Southern Nevada. "She had a heart of gold."

Manning, a full-time French and German professor, persuaded Edwards earlier this year to moonlight at the college as a part-time German teacher.

"She was an extraordinary teacher and very well-liked by her students at the college," Manning said.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., paid tribute to Edwards in a speech given before the House of Representatives.

"I grieve with those who experienced the loss of loved ones," Berkley said. "My heart goes out to the family of Barbara Edwards."

Berkley also said she spoke Wednesday with Maj. Gen. Lawrence "L.D." Johnston, Nellis Air Force Base commander. He said he has "reasonable assurance" that nobody connected to the Nevada base died in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

Donrey Washington Bureau contributed to this report