Colleen Laura Fraser

COLLEEN FRASER


I am honored to pay tribute to Colleen Fraser, who lost her life aboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001.

I did not have the privilege of knowing Ms. Fraser, but after reading of her heroism and bravery even before September 11th, I am certain that she is the very kind of person we need more of on this planet, and I would've been lucky to have known her.

Here's how the Chicago Tribune remembered Colleen Fraser:

Colleen Laura Fraser
Sept. 21, 2001

Born with a form of dwarfism, Colleen Fraser stood less than 4 feet tall. She walked with a cane, which she would shake wildly to make a point. Often that point was making the world friendlier to people with disabilities. Fraser clearly had a flair for it. "She was a firebrand," said longtime friend Ethan Ellis, executive director of the New Jersey Developmental Disabilities Council. Fraser, 51, of Elizabeth, N.J., was vice chair of the council and served in other organizations for the disabled. She was aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. In 1989, when she heard that New Jersey's U.S. senators were undecided about supporting the Americans with Disabilities Act, she loaded about a dozen disabled individuals aboard a bus and rode to both senators' offices to get their support. Fraser fashioned her flaming red hair into spikes like a punk rocker and wore numerous earrings. She wore open-toed sandals with orthopedic lifts. She liked gothic novels and horror movies. She was a wood carver and loved to bake. She was also a passionate and tireless advocate. In fact, Fraser was flying to a grant-writing seminar when she died. "I think there's a certain delicious irony that a small person like Colleen has given a small state such a big voice," Ellis said.

--Ted Gregory (The Chicago Tribune)

Thank you, Colleen Fraser, for your heroism and bravery -- in life, and on September 11, 2001. May you rest in peace.

I will never forget.

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