Lauren Grandcolas
{{short description|Victim of the 9/11 attacks, passenger of United Airlines Flight 93}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Lauren Grandcolas
|image = Lauren Grandcolas.jpg
|caption =
|birth_name = Lauren Catuzzi
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1963|8|31}}
|birth_place = Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2001|9|11|1963|8|31}}
|death_place = Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. on board Flight 93
|body_discovered =
|death_cause = Plane crash during the September 11 attacks
|resting_place =
|resting_place_coordinates =
|nationality = American
|other_names =
|known_for = Passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93
|education =
|alma_mater =
|employer =
|occupation =
|years_active =
|title =
|height =
|term =
|predecessor =
|successor =
|party =
|opponents =
|boards =
|spouse = {{marriage|Jack Grandcolas|1991}}{{cite news |last1=Pelletiere |first1=Nicole |title=Love Lost: 9/11 Spouses Reveal What They Wish Their Partners Knew |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/love-lost-911-spouses-reveal-partners-knew/story?id=41944315 |access-date=30 October 2020 |publisher=ABC News |date=9 September 2016}}
|partner =
|children = 1 unborn child
|parents =
|relations =
|callsign =
|signature =
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
Lauren Grandcolas (August 31, 1963 – September 11, 2001) was one of the passengers on board United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, who made calls providing information about the hijacking of the flight as part of the September 11 attacks. She made a call to her husband on an airphone and left a message telling him of a "problem with the plane".
Biography
Grandcolas (née Catuzzi) was born on August 31, 1963, in Bloomington, Indiana.{{cite web |url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/107-285/text/senate.html |title=House Document No. 107-285 |date=September 9, 2002 |first=Senator Barbara |last=Boxer |author-link=Senator Barbara Boxer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706005720/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/107-285/text/senate.html |archive-date=July 6, 2008 |access-date=7 December 2018}} She attended Stratford High School in Houston, Texas, and later the University of Texas at Austin where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi.{{cite web |url=http://www.lcgfoundation.org/about.htm |title=Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation: About Us |work=Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation |access-date=21 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717184908/http://lcgfoundation.org/about.htm |archive-date=17 July 2006}} She met her husband, Jack Grandcolas, at the university.
She worked for a law firm and for PricewaterhouseCoopers before becoming a marketing expert for Good Housekeeping. Grandcolas was also writing a book on self-help for women, covering finance and other topics. At the time of her death, a publisher was interested in her book.
Her sisters worked together with the publisher, Chronicle Books, to get the book published after her death.{{cite news |title=Vaughn Lohec; Missing a Sister Killed on Flight 93 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=September 11, 2006 |last=Ward |first=Paula Reed |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2006/09/11/Vaughn-Lohec-Missing-a-sister-killed-on-Flight-93/stories/200609110116 |access-date=7 December 2018}} The book, entitled You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls, was published on April 10, 2005.{{cite book |title=You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls (Paperback) |isbn=0811846350 |last1=Grandcolas |first1=Lauren Catuzzi |date=24 March 2005 |publisher=Chronicle Books }} It provides a guide, modeled on the Girl Scouts' merit badge system,{{cite news |title=Book by Sept. 11 victim is going on tour |newspaper=Marin Independent Journal |date=April 25, 2005 |author=Upshaw, Jennifer}} covering skills, such as negotiations, and life goals, such as horseback riding, scuba diving, and completing a triathlon.{{cite news |title=Leisure reading |newspaper=Deseret News |date=June 3, 2005}}{{cite news |title=This way, her spirit lives on |newspaper=Marin Independent Journal |date=February 5, 2005 |last=Upshaw |first=Jennifer}} Book excerpts have appeared in Parade, Glamour, Shape, Good Housekeeping, and other magazines.{{cite journal |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/blyth/blyth200504210759.asp |title=You Can Do It! Women doing something different in media |journal=National Review |last=Blyth |first=Myrna |date=April 21, 2005 |access-date=7 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050919111054/http://www.nationalreview.com/blyth/blyth200504210759.asp |archive-date=19 September 2005}} Grandcolas's sisters appeared on Good Morning America on April 19, 2005, to discuss the book.{{cite journal |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA516197.html?display=current&industry=Book+News&verticalid=792 |title=Dream On |last=Kinsella |first=Bridget |journal=Publishers Weekly |date=April 11, 2005 |access-date=7 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113213614/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA516197.html?display=current&industry=Book+News&verticalid=792 |archive-date=13 November 2006 |publisher=Reed Business Information}} The proceeds from sales of the book go to the Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation, which contributes funds to a college scholarship program.{{cite journal |url=http://lhj.com/lhj/category.jhtml?categoryid=/templatedata/lhj/category/data/DareToDream_YouCanDoIt.xml |title=You Can Do It! |journal=Ladies' Home Journal |access-date=17 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061016023626/http://www.lhj.com/lhj/category.jhtml?categoryid=%2Ftemplatedata%2Flhj%2Fcategory%2Fdata%2FDareToDream_YouCanDoIt.xml |archive-date=October 16, 2006}}
Grandcolas was also involved with charitable organizations, including the United Way, March of Dimes, Project Open Hand, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Glide Memorial. She was also a certified emergency medical technician.{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/sept-11-flight-93-forever-changed-husbands-life |title=Sept. 11, Flight 93 Forever Changed Husband's Life |work=FOX News Network, LLC |date=September 11, 2006 |access-date=7 December 2018 |publisher=Fox News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325112501/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213303,00.html?sPage=fnc.national%2F_911 |archive-date=25 March 2009 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}
September 11 attacks
File:4.28.12BeamerBurnettGrandcolasPanelS-68ByLuigiNovi1.jpg.]]
Grandcolas had been attending her grandmother's funeral in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and was returning home to San Rafael, California.{{cite book |author=Longman, Jere |title=Among the Heroes |url=https://archive.org/details/amongheroesunite00long |url-access=registration |publisher=Harper Collins |year=2003|isbn=9780060099084 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93grandcolasbiop8.asp |title=Passenger: Lauren Grandcolas |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=October 28, 2001 |access-date=7 December 2018 |publisher=PG Publishing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011105011352/http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028flt93grandcolasbiop8.asp |archive-date=5 November 2001 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }} She arrived early at the airport on September 11, 2001, allowing her to board United Airlines Flight 93, which was earlier than her originally scheduled flight.
File:Memorial Monument Names of Passengers Heroes 9.JPG
Grandcolas, who was originally seated in seat 11D, called her husband from towards the rear of the aircraft in row 23.{{cite web |url=http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/flights/P200018.html |title=Exhibit #P200018, United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui |work=United States District Court |publisher=Eastern District of Virginia |access-date=7 December 2018 |archive-date=14 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814033755/http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/notablecases/moussaoui/exhibits/prosecution/flights/P200018.html |url-status=dead }} She left a message for her husband, who was still sleeping, telling him of the "problem with the plane".{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/28/ltm.16.html |title=Remembering The Victims: Lauren Grandcolas |first=Paula |last=Zahn |work=CNN |date=December 28, 2001 |access-date=June 23, 2008}} Her last phone message to her husband was played in the docudrama The Flight That Fought Back.{{cite news |title=9-11 special tells story of the struggle on Flight 93; Unsettling documentary imagines the jetliner's final journey over Pennsylvania |newspaper=The Detroit News |date=September 10, 2005 |last=Toby |first=Mekeisha Madden}} She then passed her phone to Honor Elizabeth Wainio.{{cite news |last=Pauley |first=Jane |title=No greater love |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14789502 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150724124131/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14789502 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 24, 2015 |date=September 11, 2006 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=August 24, 2008 }} At the time of her death, at the age of 38, she was three months pregnant with their first child.
Grandcolas's father, Lawrence R. Catuzzi, served as co-chairman of the Flight 93 National Memorial task force, from 2002 to 2005.{{cite web |url=https://www.communicationsmgr.com/projects/Flight93_bulibmgr/docs/FLNI--finalwebnewsletter2.pdf |title=Planning for the Flight 93 National Memorial |date=June 2004 |publisher=National Park Service}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}{{cite web |url=http://www.house.gov/murtha/news/nw021213.htm |title=Co-Chairs Announced for Flight 93 National Memorial Task Force |first=John |last=Murtha |author-link=John Murtha |date=December 13, 2002 |access-date=7 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231121414/http://www.house.gov/murtha/news/nw021213.htm |archive-date=31 December 2007 |work=United States House of Representatives}}
Grandcolas and her unborn child were memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-68, along with other passengers on Flight 93, at the National 9/11 Memorial.{{cite web |url=http://names.911memorial.org/#lang=en_US&page=person&id=84 |title=South Pool: Panel S-68: Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas and her unborn child |work=Memorial Guide: National 9/11 Memorial |access-date=October 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909141712/http://names.911memorial.org/#lang=en_US&page=person&id=84 |archive-date=September 9, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}{{-}}
Published works
- You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls, 2005 Chronicle Books; Bk&Sticker {{ISBN|0-8118-4635-0}} (Published posthumously through the efforts of her sisters, Vaughn Lohec and Dara Near){{-}}
In popular culture
- In the 2005 television film The Flight That Fought Back, which depicts the passenger uprising inside the hijacked United Airlines 93, Lauren Grandcolas is portrayed by Christy Dawn Little.
- She is portrayed by Jacqueline Ann Steuart in the 2006 film Flight 93.
- She is portrayed by Kate Jennings Grant in the 2006 film United 93.
References
{{Reflist|2}}
23. [http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=elizabeth_wainio Elizabeth Wainio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112014827/http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=elizabeth_wainio |date=2018-01-12 }}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.lcgfoundation.org/ Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20081013082757/http://www.sep11memories.org/wiki/Lauren_Grandcolas Lauren Grandcolas On-line Tribute]
- {{IMDb name|2424067}}
{{United Airlines Flight 93}}
{{Casualties of the September 11 attacks}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grandcolas, Lauren}}
Category:People from Bloomington, Indiana
Category:United Airlines Flight 93 victims
Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni
Category:American self-help writers
Category:People from San Rafael, California
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:American women non-fiction writers