RUTH AND JULIANA
McCOURT:
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.
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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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