Norman Wahlstrom Jr. talked to his mother Monday night. After a whirlwind trip to take her twin granddaughters to Brown University in Rhode Island, she was anxious to get back to her Kaysville home.
She didn't like to fly anyway. She told him she never wanted to leave home again.
She will never have that chance.
Mary Alice Wahlstrom, 75, was killed Tuesday morning, along with her daughter Carolyn Beug, 48, both passengers on an American Airlines jet commandeered by hijackers, crashed into the World Trade Center.
"The one thing those terrorists cannot destroy is love," said Margaret Wahlstrom, Mary Alice's daughter-in-law. "They cannot destroy the love we have in this family, and the love people have for each other."
Heartbroken, the Wahlstrom family met Tuesday with friends and church members in this close-knit community who stopped to offer sympathy.
"All you can do is go up to them and give them a hug and offer them the support you can," said Reese Roberts, a counselor in the Kaysville 17th Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Family members were devastated by the news. Norman Jr., a pathologist at Ogden Regional Medical Center, and his father, Norman Sr., a retired Air Force fighter pilot in World War II, could not talk about it.
"It broke their hearts because they loved them so much," said Margaret Wahlstrom, Norman's wife.
Mary Alice Wahlstrom and Carolyn Beug were among 266 people who perished on four commercial flights that were hijacked within moments of each other. Two jets crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the other into a field near Pittsburgh.
Norman Wahlstrom was scheduled to pick his mother up at Salt Lake International Airport Tuesday afternoon on a connecting flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. His sister, Beug, an accomplished Hollywood musician and wife of a Warner Brothers vice president, lived in Los Angeles.
Beug, who was born and reared in Logan, won acclaim for her work on Disney's "Pocahontas" soundtrack, and was an integral part of an award-winning music video by the rock band Van Halen.
Mary Alice Wahlstrom was remembered as a vibrant, exuberant woman who exercised daily, played the piano, volunteered as an usher at Temple Square and loved movies.
" 'Gone With the Wind' was her favorite," said Maryann Wahlstrom, one of 13 grandchildren. "But every movie was her favorite."
She was the kind of woman who would walk up to strangers and start talking.
"She was so dynamic," said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. "She was a vibrant person with a wonderful outlook on life."
And she loved to laugh. The recorded message on her home answering machine ends with an uncontrollable laugh and protestation that she needed to change it. She never did, much to the delight of her family.
Margaret Wahlstrom saw the television accounts of the tragedy, and when it was revealed the flight was bound from Boston to Los Angeles, she became worried. She waited on hold for more than an hour before American Airlines confirmed the passenger list.
Maryann Wahlstrom, 21, was waiting for a van to pick her up from the Missionary Training Center to fly to her mission in Germany when she was informed all flights had been cancelled.
She called her mother, Margaret, who was reluctant to tell her about the news.
"It is unbelievable," Maryann Wahlstrom. "You can never imagine something like this could happen."
Neighbor Fran Brown was near-speechless at the news. "It's all a shock," she said.
Although devastated by their own loss, the Wahlstrom family grieved for the thousands of families across the nation who lost loved ones.
"My heart goes out to this whole country," Margaret Wahlstrom said. "I feel a kinship towards them."
E-MAIL: donna@desnews.com ; ehayes@desnews.com