TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The moments Grace Maxwell shared with her grandfather over the years were “his greatest joy.” And a trip home to Wichita, Kansas, allowed the 20-year-old to be by his side one final time.
Maxwell, a mechanical engineering major, was returning to college just a day after her grandfather’s funeral when she and 66 others were killed in Wednesday’s collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C.
One of the other victims was a young lawyer from the nation's capital whose meeting in Wichita ended early enough to make a flight back for her birthday celebration. Still another was a police colonel whose home was in the Philippines, but whose work took him to Kansas to check out equipment the force planned to purchase.
As Maxwell’s classmates filled the pews of Cedarville University’s chapel Friday, they joined others mourning the singular lives lost and grasping to make sense of the random circumstances that put friends and loved ones in harm’s way Wednesday night.
“Can you imagine losing a parent and seven days later losing a child?” Cedarville’s president, Thomas White, said to those assembled at the university in southwestern Ohio.
Maxwell was known on campus for her devotion to helping others, working this semester on making a hand-stabilizing device to help a disabled boy feed himself and chipping in at the student radio station, the school said.
“We don’t know why a young, bright, shining star was taken from us way too soon,” White said.
Coincidence and fleeting decisions led many of the passengers to board Flight 5342.
Elizabeth Anne Keys, an attorney, had traveled to Wichita on a business trip and was worried she might not be able to celebrate her 33rd birthday back in Washington with her longtime partner, David Seidman.
But her work meeting wrapped up with time to spare, allowing her to catch the flight on her birthday and make plans for the couple to get drinks late that night, Seidman said.
“She was super excited.”
Keys, a native of Cincinnati, and Seidman, from New York, met as law students at Washington’s Georgetown University. The capital became their city, and Keys was endlessly energetic as they explored it together.
She played the saxophone, oboe and bassoon in high school and was on the sailing team in college. She loved taking ski trips out West, hiking in Hawaii and entertaining friends around the fire pit at her home, her family said.
Seidman said he had never skied until she encouraged him to give it a shot. She wanted to try golf next, and they were planning to take lessons.
“It was like that for everything,” he said. “She was nonstop all the time.”
Pergentino Malabed Jr. was more than 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) and 13 time zones from his home in the Philippines. As the head of supply management for his country’s 232,000-officer national police force, Malabed traveled to Wichita for the equipment inspection.
“His untimely passing is a profound loss to the Philippine National Police, where he served with honor, with integrity and dedication throughout his career,” the force said in a statement.
Malabed and dozens of others boarded the jet as many do every day, forming an instant community — if only for a few hours — of disparate travelers, many of whom likely shared little connection, if any.
Kiah Duggins, a civil rights attorney and Howard University professor, was returning to Washington after a visit to Wichita, where she was raised and still has family.
Growing up she served in student government, created a food bank and mentored young girls, many Black like her, encouraging them to go to college. She went on to Harvard Law School and worked as an intern in President Barack Obama's White House. And at Howard she remained an advocate for others, said Bobby Gandu, the university’s director of admissions.
“She was always a voice for students who didn’t have a voice or that were underserved,” Gandu said. “And she leaned into this discomfort, as we like to say around here, and she used her voice and her opportunities to lift up others.”
Asra Hussain, 26, was returning to Washington from a work trip to a Wichita hospital. The native of Carmel, Indiana, earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in health care administration, before she and her husband settled in the capital.
On Friday one of her former professors at Indiana University recalled Hussain's work ethic, positive attitude and her knack for asking difficult questions.
“She stood out from the start,” Paul Helmke said. “She was immediately a rising star.”
In Charlotte, North Carolina, friends of Wendy Shaffer struggled to explain the loss of the vivacious mother whose two young sons were her pride and joy.
“Her love, kindness, and unwavering spirit touched everyone who knew her,” friends of the family wrote on a fundraising site. “And her absence leaves a void that can never be filled.”
Geller reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Jim Gomez in Manila; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Christine Fernando in Chicago; Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.
Philippines Police Col. Randulf Tuaño, chief public information office, speaks during a press conference at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Manila Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 as he confirmed that a Philippine police official was one of the passengers killed onboard the American Airlines plane that collided with an Army Blackhawk helicopter in the United States. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Crosses are seen in a makeshift memorial for the victims of the plane crash in the Potomac River near of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
