Vicki Costanzo Yancey was on her way to Reno, Nevada, for a business conference but hadn't planned to be on American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.  Yancey, a Navy veteran, worked for a defense contracting company and had planned to leave Washington, DC, earlier but ticketing problems delayed her departure.  She called her husband 10 minutes before the flight boarded to tell him that she got a seat on the plane.  Mrs. Yancey, who grew up in New Jersey, was a typical middle-class mother of two, but a mom who professed a love for politics and who testified before the Senate Finance Committee where she gave CNN's "Quote of the Day."

Born in Kearny, New Jersey, Yancey lived there until age 15 when her family moved to Hillsborough.  She graduated from Hillsborough High School in 1974.  At 22 she joined the Navy, becoming an electronics technician.  She served for six years, four at Pearl Harbor.  She and her husband married in Honolulu, where their first daughter was born.  At the time of her death Yancey lived in Springfield, Virginia, and worked as a Department of Defense contractor with Vrendenburg Co. in Washington, D.C.

"I think she was the epitome of a middle-class woman who loved her kids, loved politics and loved life," her husband said.  "She cared for all human beings."  Her life took her from New Jersey to Hawaii -- where she met and married her husband -- to Capitol Hill.  Her Senate appearance, which she called on her Web site "the most interesting thing I have ever done," came in 1991 after she wrote to the Washington Post lamenting the loss of the one-income family.  She was asked to speak at a tax reform hearing about the struggles of the middle-class family.  She delivered the CNN "Quote of the Day," led the Headline News, and was profiled by CNN and PBS.  Her quote: "Diving deeply into debt in our middle age is a very unappealing possibility."  "She referred to that as her 15 minutes of fame," her husband said.

"She was a good American citizen," said her father.  "It breaks my heart that she left before any of us got up.  We said our goodbyes the night before," her husband said.  Their last conversation was just before takeoff, when they said "I love you," and he wished her a safe trip.  One thing David Yancey said his wife would not want now is for her death to cause any abuse to Arab-Americans.  She was survived by her husband and two daughters.  Following memorial services with military honors she was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)