Ruben Ornedo-9-11 Victim

Yesterday, as we often do, my wife and I drove up to Los Angeles to visit her parents’ final resting places. It was her mother’s 99th birthday. At the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery near LAX, we met up with some other members of the family to spend a few minutes with my parents-in-law, whose crypts are located in the main chapel area.

Since I grew up in the area, I often wander around looking to see if, by chance, I might find the crypt of someone I knew in my youth. (As I have previously written, I have a good friend from my high school days who was killed in Vietnam and who is buried at Holy Cross.) 

Just by chance, found a crypt just a few feet away from those of my mother and father-in-law that caught my attention:

Ruben S Ornedo

Demetrio Ornedo (Ruben’s father)

What was so special about this crypt? Ruben died on September 11, 2001 aboard the flight which crashed into the Pentagon. His father, Demetrio, died in 2002.

This morning, I did a bit of research on Ruben. Below is what I found.

 https://pentagonmemorial.org/biographies/ruben-s-ornedo/

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2021-09-07/children-not-born-yet-dads-died-sept-11-tuesdays-children-2804590.html

It seems that Ruben was a really good guy. I noted that his daughter, Robin, born after 9-11, (she is one of about 100 or so survivors) is attending UC Irvine, where I taught part-time for 18 years, and of which I have written so much about. I  wish her and her entire family the very best.