Johnson and other relatives were among 50 who gathered at Freedom Grove in Urbana on the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. More than 3,000 lost their lives in separate attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C, and in a diverted attack in Pennsylvania.
Area residents also gathered in Springfield at Clark County Common Pleas Court to pray for the country.
Titus, a Graham High School and Miami University graduate, was on United Airlines Flight 175 when it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
She had been a flight attendant for only nine months and had wanted to take a day off work on Sept. 11, 2001 to come home to be with her family as a nephew underwent surgery, Johnson said. But she was unable to find someone to replace her, she added.
“She was not supposed to be on that flight,” Johnson said.
Johnson and Titus’ grandmother, Elizabeth Delaney, spoke briefly before the crowd at Freedom Grove, a six-acre park that honors veterans and pays tribute to those who died in the attacks. They thanked firefighters, police, paramedics and other first responders who tried to save as many lives as possible after the attacks.
Delaney also said the family was grateful to those responsible for establishing Freedom Grove. Freedom Grove includes a single, twisted, 12-foot steel support beam from the World Trade Center that arrived in Urbana in 2011.
The beam is one of about 1,000 pieces of wreckage made available from Kennedy International Airport’s Hanger 17, where debris from the towers were stored.
Mike Major, an Urbana artist who designed the memorial, has said the beam stands as a symbol that Americans are resilient in the face of adversity.
Johnson said Freedom Grove continues to be a special place.
“When they built this, it was a place that we could go because we don’t have a place to go,” she said. “It’s still a place we can come and be with (Alicia).”
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