“TELL THE BOYS I LOVE THEM”: THE FINAL WORDS OF A MOTHER ABOARD FLIGHT 93

CeeCee Ross Lyles was a mother, wife, former police officer and United Airlines flight attendant. On September 11, 2001, her final messages to her family revealed love, fear and extraordinary courage.

Twenty-five years later, the words of CeeCee Ross Lyles still echo.

“Tell the boys I love them.”

They were among the final words the 33-year-old mother spoke to her husband from aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001.

She had no way of knowing exactly how much time she had left.

But she knew something was terribly wrong.

And in those final moments, her thoughts turned not to herself — but to her family.

FROM POLICE OFFICER TO FLIGHT ATTENDANT

Born and raised in Fort Pierce, Florida, Lyles spent six years serving as a police officer and detective with the Fort Pierce Police Department.

She was known as a determined officer who was willing to confront danger.

But Lyles also had another dream.

She wanted to become a flight attendant.

She eventually left police work and joined United Airlines, beginning her new career in early 2001.

By September, she had been working as a flight attendant for only about 10 months.

She was also a mother of four boys — two sons and two stepsons — and a wife to Lorne Lyles.

According to the National Park Service, her husband remembered her as a tough, intelligent and caring woman with a strong faith.

THE CALL FROM FLIGHT 93

On the morning of September 11, Flight 93 departed Newark International Airport bound for San Francisco.

The aircraft was hijacked after takeoff.

As passengers and crew members began learning about the other hijacked planes and the attacks in New York and at the Pentagon, they realized that their aircraft could also be part of a much larger plot.

Lyles called her husband.

Her first call reached his answering machine.

She told him she loved him and asked him to tell their children that she loved them.

She also expressed uncertainty about whether she would ever see him again.

“I hope to be able to see your face again, baby,” she said, according to the National Park Service’s account of the call.

Then came another call.

This time, Lyles and her husband spoke directly.

They prayed together.

“TELL THE BOYS I LOVE THEM”

In that second conversation, Lyles told Lorne that the passengers and crew were preparing to act.

Her husband later recalled her final words:

“Tell the boys I love them. We’re getting ready to do it now. It’s happening!”

Those words captured the terrifying reality inside the aircraft.

Passengers and crew members had decided to fight back.

They knew the plane had been hijacked. They had learned what had happened to the other aircraft.

And they understood that the hijackers intended to use Flight 93 as a weapon.

The passengers’ revolt ultimately prevented the aircraft from reaching its intended target.

THE FINAL MOMENTS OF FLIGHT 93

At approximately 9:57 a.m., passengers and crew began their attempt to regain control of the cockpit.

The struggle continued as the plane descended rapidly.

At 10:03 a.m., Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

All 44 people aboard were killed.

But the aircraft never reached the destination the hijackers had intended.

The actions of the passengers and crew are widely credited with preventing an attack on another target, likely in Washington, D.C.

Among those who fought back was CeeCee Ross Lyles.

She was 33 years old.

She was a wife.

A mother.

A former police officer.

And a flight attendant who had spent her final moments trying to protect others.

A MOTHER’S WORDS THAT OUTLIVED HER

For Lyles’ children, September 11 became the day their mother never came home.

But her final words remained with them.

Twenty-five years later, her sons are adults themselves.

One of them, Jerome, has spoken about how much his mother missed — including the opportunity to see her children grow up and meet the grandchildren she never knew.

“She would have three grandkids” through him and three through his brother, he said in a recent interview.

That is perhaps one of the most painful parts of the story.

Lyles did not get to watch her sons become men.

She did not get to attend their milestones.

She did not get to meet the next generation of her family.

But her children never lost the knowledge of how deeply she loved them.

HER MEMORY LIVES ON

Lyles’ story has continued to be remembered in Fort Pierce, where a memorial sculpture honors her life and service.

Her legacy is also preserved at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania.

And on the 25th anniversary of September 11, her name remains among those remembered across the country.

Her story is not only about the final minutes of Flight 93.

It is about the life she lived before that day.

A woman who served her community as a police officer.

A mother who loved her children.

A wife who prayed with her husband when she knew she might never see him again.

And a flight attendant who, alongside the passengers and crew of Flight 93, became part of one of the most extraordinary acts of courage in American history.

Twenty-five years later, her final message still carries the simplest request a mother could make:

Tell the boys I love them.

And they knew.