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Student's
uncle makes life-saving decision Managing Editor Anxiously
watching the devastating events of Sept. 11, 2001, was especially hard
for Melissa Durie. Like
most students, Durie, a junior business major, was confused with all the
chaos and commotion occurring on campus. With her accounting class
canceled, she walked to her apartment across campus, asking her roommate
if she had heard about the attacks. This
was something you would hear about happening somewhere else, Durie
said. I had no idea what was going on. Things
were going to become even more troublesome for Durie as the day
progressed. When
she called her mother, Durie learned her uncle was in the Washington,
D.C., area planning to fly back to the West Coast that day. At
the time, no one knew if Mark Kurtich was OK. I
felt sick, Durie said. I didn t know what to think. Durie s
mother, Marilyn, tried everything she could to comfort her daughter over
the telephone. Don t
think of the worse, Marilyn said. As
the long agonizing hours dragged on, Durie continued watching the events
unfold, knowing in the back of her mind her uncle might be one of the
victims. All
she could do was wait. Family
members in Missouri, Connecticut and Los Angeles were all attempting to
find out if Kurtich was on one of those planes. Later that night, the
telephone rang in the Kurtich home in Los Angeles. His wife Debbie
picked up the telephone. It
was Kurtich. He was fine. I
couldn t believe it, said Debbie Kurtich, his wife of almost 30
years. With
everything OK, and family members all receiving the good news, Mark and
Debbie Kurtich took a deep breath. At the time, only they knew how close
the day s events almost became personal. Mark
Kurtich, senior vice president of operations at The Los Angeles Times,
was in Washington for the Newspaper Association of America conference.
It s a conference he attends every year in January and September. Nearly
100 percent of the time, if Kurtich has the opportunity to leave
Washington early to fly home, he almost always does. Sept. 11, 2001,
however, he decided to continue his plans and stick with the afternoon
flight at 3 p.m. The
decision saved his life. The
early flight was United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked airliner, which
crashed in rural southwest Pennsylvania, killing all 45 people aboard. I
knew that was the flight, Kurtich said. But, I never felt like it
was a close call. A
few miles away from the Pentagon, he could see smoke filtering into the
skies above the nation s capital. He knew he had to do something, but
didn t know what that right thing was. I
was torn between the agony of the attacks and attempting to try and
assist the paper, he said. I wanted to help. With
his afternoon flight canceled, and a lengthy shut-down at the airports,
Kurtich and three other colleagues felt it would be best to rent a
vehicle and drive home. They took off within a few hours of the attacks. The
trip was long - nearly 49 hours of straight driving. They stayed
informed by the radio, switching drivers every four hours. I
was pretty focused on getting home, he said. Waiting
in Los Angeles was Debbie Kurtich. It
felt really good to see my wife, he said. Physically
and mentally drained, Kurtich went straight to bed. The
Kurtichs, although stunned by the attacks, took the events in stride. I
felt really lucky, Debbie Kurtich said. It wasn t his time. Looking
back at the past year, the couple knows they have to move on. As much as
Kurtich travels, it s something they have to do. We
can t think about it anymore, she said. Durie
doesn t talk much about how close her uncle came to being affected by
last year s events. It brings back bad memories for her. She does
know, however, that if anything, the events had one promising effect for
the relationship she shares with her aunt and uncle. Before
this happened, there was always the distance, Durie said. But now
we talk a lot more and try to keep in touch. |