Parents honor memory of 9/11 flight attendant

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - Saturday marks 20 years since the 9/11 attacks and one Colorado family is honoring a loved one they lost that day.

KKTV spoke with the parents of Kathryn Yancey LaBorie about the grief they still feel and the importance of honoring this anniversary.

“I can’t believe it’s possible,” LaBorie’s father Gene Yancey said. “It’s just as raw in our hearts as it was almost that day.”

For Gene Yancey and his wife, Florela Yancey, the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil is personal.

After graduating high school, LaBorie took a job at an airport in the Denver, Colo. area.

“She loved that job and then she decided to go to Florida and the next thing we knew, she was going to work for the airlines,” Florela Yancey said.

LaBorie became a flight attendant, a job that her parents say was a perfect fit for their daughter.

“Everybody was her friend,” her mother said. “You spoke to her and you thought you’d known her forever.”

LaBorie was the head flight attendant on United Flight 175 on Sept. 11, 2001. Just 30 minutes into the flight, the plane was hijacked and it crashed into the South Tower.

Although time has passed since the attacks, the memories the Yanceys have of their daughter haven’t.

“I think about her in the morning when I wake up and at night when I go to bed,” Florela Yancey said.

Her parents hope that everyone takes a moment on Saturday to ponder the sacrifice so many Americans made. That day changed everything.

“I think remembering 9/11 is something that we never, never need to forget,” Florela Yancey said.

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