By Brian Mittge / The Chronicle
One of the most heartbreaking coincidences of last Tuesday's day of tragedy touched the home of a Centralia man.
Ruth McCourt, niece of Centralia music merchant Don McCourt, was aboard the second plane to hit the World Trade Center Towers.
Ruth and her 4-year-old daughter, Juliana, were on their way to Los Angeles for a trip that was to include a visit to Disneyland.
Ruth McCourt's best friend, Paige Hackel, had planned to ride with her to Los Angeles, but couldn't find a seat with Ruth and Juliana on United Airlines Flight 175, the plane destined to hit the south tower of the World Trade Center less than an hour after takeoff.
In a bitter turn of fate, Hackel was bumped to American Flight 11 -- which was to hit the north tower just minutes before the plane carrying her best friend hit the south tower.
News articles about McCourt and Hackel spoke of how the two friends remained inseparable even in death.
Don McCourt said the last time he had seen Ruth -- the wife of his nephew, David McCourt, -- was at a funeral last year in Connecticut.
Travel tieups related to the terrorist attack continue to hurt his family even after the loss of life, McCourt told The Chronicle.
"We have a large family and unfortunately, because of the same circumstances, not a single person who is living outside Connecticut was able to get to the memorial," McCourt said.
Air travel schedules are so tangled that, as of Saturday, his wife was still trapped at an airport, trying to fly back home.
"At this time my wife is in Alaska. That makes it even harder," McCourt said.
"My pain on the loss is a personal thing. We need time," McCourt said. "When my wife gets back we need time to work through it by ourselves."
The crashes that killed Ruth McCourt, her daughter and her friend also nearly took the life of Ruth's brother, Ronnie Clifford.
Clifford worked in the Trade Center, and was fleeing the building as the second plane, carrying his sister, hit the south tower, Clifford's brother told Irish television.
"Tragically, my sister hit the tower building as my brother was on the ground floor," John Clifford said. His brother "saw sights he would never see again. Very sad. Very evil, but he's safe. I was very concerned when the two buildings collapsed, because I knew Ronnie worked in one. He phoned to say he made it, he was OK, traumatized, that he was within an inch of his life."
"He went through the front door and a lady was about three seconds in front of him. She was hit by a terrific fireball. She subsequently died," John Clifford said, as reported in Sky News.
USA Today, the Associated Press, Sky News and the New York Post contributed to this story.
Brian Mittge covers local government for The Chronicle.
