ALONA ABRAHAM: A Great Time in the
States
The
first 10 days of September were giddy ones for Alona
Abraham, who was in Boston on her first trip to the
United States. She went whale-watching, shopping and
walking in Cambridge, said Dror Veisman, a college friend
with whom she stayed. "She said, `Oh, Mommy, I'm having a
great time,' " said Miriam Abraham, her mother, who lives
in Ashdod, Israel. "She was laughing and talking about
going on picnics and sightseeing with her friends."
Ms. Abraham, 30, the eldest of three children and
daughter of Israeli immigrants from Bombay, worked long
hours at Applied Materials, where she was an industrial
engineer. So she took her vacations seriously, spending
weeks in Paris and Amsterdam and going on African
safaris. Independent and religious, she often traveled
alone and kept kosher wherever she happened to be.
Seeing America was one of her dreams. She liked the
cool weather, the low prices, the cosmopolitan cities.
And for a few weeks, she could escape the bombings and
shootings at home in Israel. She planned to return again
and again. She was on United Airlines Flight 175, which
struck the south tower on Sept. 11.
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