PAIGE FARLEY-HACKEL: Taking Miss J
to Disneyland
They
were best friends, close as sisters, and they were headed
to California. Paige Farley- Hackel, and Ruth McCourt
were going to fly from Boston together on United Airlines
Flight 175, but when Ms. Farley- Hackel realized she
could use frequent flyer miles, she got a ticket for
American Airlines Flight 11 instead. Ms. McCourt, who was
flying with her 4-year-old daughter, Juliana, and Ms.
Farley-Hackel said goodbye in the early morning hours at
Logan International Airport in Boston on Sept. 11, and
boarded their planes.
The women had planned on meeting in Los Angeles and
taking Juliana to Disneyland. Ms. Farley-Hackel's plane
was hijacked and struck the north tower of the World
Trade Center. Ms. McCourt's and Juliana's flight,
hijacked as well, crashed into the south tower shortly
thereafter.
The mother and daughter would have been a striking
pair sitting together, said Ms. McCourt's mother, Paula
Clifford Scott, what with Ms. McCourt's long red hair and
Juliana's blond locks. She was only 4, but already
Juliana, nicknamed Miss J, displayed a little sense of
wit.
"And she was a nurturer like her mother," Ms. Scott
said.
Ruth McCourt (right), who was 45 and a homemaker from
New London, Conn., met Ms. Farley-Hackel (left) at the
day spa she used to own in Boston. She gave up the
business when she got married six years ago, but the
friendship lasted. The two women often traveled together.
They shared passions for reading and cooking and learning
new things.
Ms. Farley-Hackel, who was 46 and a writer and
motivational speaker from Newton, Mass., was looking
forward to having the first few episodes of her new radio
program, "Spiritually Speaking," hit the airwaves. She
had a dream: in two years or so, she wanted to either be
featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" or be Oprah's
biggest rival, said her husband, Allan Hackel.
Recently, the Oprah show included a memorial segment
about Ms. Farley-Hackel's friendship with Ms. McCourt and
Juliana.
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