Huntington residents grieve with the nation

Bryce Alderton

The United Airlines plane that crashed in western Pennsylvania hit

close to home for Connie Greyshock.

Greyshock, a Huntington Beach resident, awoke Tuesday morning to a

phone call from her son, Steven, a sophomore at West Virginia University,

telling her to turn on the television set.

His school is a mere 30 miles from the crash site of United Airlines

flight 93 bound for San Francisco -- one of four commercial planes

hijacked early Tuesday morning.

Unknown terrorists reportedly hijacked the four commercial planes at

knifepoint, crashing two passenger-filled jets into the 110-story twin

towers in New York, a third into the Pentagon outside Washington and the

fourth in Pennsylvania.

Two American Airlines planes carried 156 people to their deaths and

the United Airlines planes carried another 101.

Three of the four planes were headed for Los Angeles International

Airport, two coming from Boston and the third from Dulles in Washington

D.C.

“I’m so saddened,” she said. “I don’t understand how somebody could

give their own life for a cause like that.”

Greyshock’s other son, Peter, lives in Santa Rosa and is a member of

Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

“[Peter] called and he was just sobbing, saying, ‘Mom, some of these

people that left for work this morning are never going to come home,”’

Greyshock said.

Her shock and grief was shared by many throughout the city, including

school children.

At the parish school at St. Bonaventure Church in Huntington Beach,

600 students went to mass Tuesday morning to pray for the victims and

perpetrators of the terrorist attacks.

“It was powerful looking at the childrens’ concern,” Father Bruce

Patterson said.

Patterson said Tuesday’s attacks remind him of an event 38 years ago.

“I was in the first grade and all the adults started crying at news of

President [John F.] Kennedy’s assassination -- I’m sure the children

today will remember where they were when this happened,” Patterson said.

Like countless others Patterson knew people flying that day. He knew

two bishops and one other friend that had flights from the East Coast to

Los Angeles, but they all landed safely before airports closed Tuesday.

Patterson was amazed when he walked into church Tuesday morning to

people smiling and greeting each other, in place of the usual solitary

somber atmosphere.

“I usually don’t see that during weekday masses,” Patterson said.

“It’s the ability to be with people who share the same spirit and

compassion.”

St. Bonaventure Church held a 7:30 p.m. mass Tuesday where community

members gathered to pray.

Over at city hall Huntington Beach Mayor Pam Julien Houchen was also

trying to comfort residents.

She issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon to assure residents.

Julien Houchen used to fly across the United States weekly when she

was the vice president for a furniture manufacturer based in Los Angeles,

often from Boston to Los Angeles.

“It’s a funny feeling in your stomach, knowing that it could have

happened a year ago,” she said. “You expect to go to bed every night safe

and wake up safe. It’s devastating to all of us.”