This tribute is published on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist
attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001,
under the auspices of Project 2996.
Jeffrey Dwayne Collman
Image: Family photograph, via http://guy-at-judson.blogspot.com (site discontinued)
Source: Aurora Beacon News, Aurora IL 9-23-2001
Jeffrey Dwayne Collman, age 41, of Novato, California, formerly of
Yorkville, IL, a flight attendant for American Airlines, died in the
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:45a.m.
on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
Jeffrey was a 1977 graduate of Yorkville High School in Yorkville, IL.
Jeff was formerly employed, for over 10 years, at All-Steel in
Montgomery, IL. He had then worked, for a brief time, at Cedar Sinai
Hospital in Los Angeles, California before attaining his dream of being a
flight attendant with American Airlines. Jeffrey loved his job and
traveling to other countries around the world. He also loved to play and
watch tennis. Jeff was a true people person who enjoyed visiting with
and getting to know others. He became a flight attendant in 1997. Two
years later, Jeff received the American Professional Flight Attendant
Award and was considered a spirited and dedicated flight attendant. He
liked to entertain children on his flights, and he was fond of
playing tennis and traveling, friends said.
He is survived by his parents, Dwayne and Kay Collman of Yorkville, IL
and Beverly Sutton of North Aurora, IL; his close companion, Keith
Bradkowski of Novato, Ca; his brothers, Charles Collman of Fort Meyers,
FL and Brian Collman of Las Vegas, NV; his sister, Brenda Sorenson of
Aurora, IL; his step-brothers, Steve (Linda) Gengler of Yorkville, IL
and Chuck (Lakshmi) Gengler of South Orange, NJ; his step-sister, Susan
Bohan of California; a god-child, Marlene Wakelin; his half-sisters,
Laura Kries of Brooklyn Park, MN, Caroline Sutton of Joliet, IL and
Vickie Michel of Aurora, IL; several nieces and nephews, many loving
aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Jeffrey will also be missed by 100
other flight attendants.
He is preceded in death by his grandparents and his brother, Mark Allen Collman.
A memorial service was held on Monday, October 1, 2001 at the Immanuel
Lutheran Church in Yorkville, IL with Pastor John Leaf officiating.
Father’s thoughts
Dwayne Collman's imagination gets the best of him when he thinks about
the final minutes of his son's life on American Airlines Flight 11.
He's filled with horror thinking about what the 41-year-old flight
attendant from Yorkville went through as terrorists with knives steered
the plane into the first World Trade Center tower. Collman knows his
son received safety training in flight school, but he doubts it ever
could have prepared him for the challenges he would face on the morning
of Sept. 11. The grieving father is sure of one thing about his son,
though, even if the details about his death are not certain:
"He would have fought like hell."
Jeffrey Collman, an American Airlines flight attendant for five years
who grew up in Yorkville, died Tuesday morning when his hijacked plane,
destined for Los Angeles, crashed into New York's famous landmark at
8:45 a.m. Though his body has not been recovered, his parents knew he
was gone when he didn't call within a few hours after the tragedy. He
had sent his stepmother, Kay, an e-mail the night before, telling her he
would be flying from Boston to Los Angeles the next morning.
"I knew he was in that accident because every time there was something
going on with airplanes, he would call and say, 'Hey, I'm all right,' "
said Kay Collman. "So I knew that, when he didn't call, he was on that
plane."
His parents [...] say Jeffrey Collman wanted to be a flight attendant
because he loved to travel and meet people around the world. After
working for years at Allsteel in Montgomery, he moved to California
about five years ago to pursue that dream. Lifelong friend Dolores
Humphrey, who went to school with Jeffrey Collman at all grade levels in
Yorkville, said she feared he was killed when she heard the news
because he often flew early-week flights from Boston to Los Angeles.
She said Collman never lost contact with his friends, even though his job took him around the world.
"Every time he got into town, he would call anyone he knew to meet for
breakfast," said Humphrey, who last talked to Collman [5 days before
9/11]. "He would talk for a couple hours, then have to go fly somewhere
else."
His stepmother said Jeffrey was the type of person who could "sit down
next to someone on a plane and walk away knowing their life story." His
father said Jeffrey loved tennis and flew around the world to watch
professionals play. Kay Collman says her stepson never went anywhere
meekly, and he loved his job so much that she's sure he didn't back down
in the face of terror. "He took it seriously," she said, "and he would
not have let anyone walk on him."
Humphrey said Jeffrey talked of flying even when he was a child, and his
dream came true when American Airlines gave him a job. He was never
afraid to fly, she said, always asserting that he was safer in the air
than anyone on the ground. Collman's parents have begun to realize how
their son died, and that he will always be remembered as a victim on one
of the saddest days ever in the United States.
"It's completely different than just someone dying," Kay Collman said.
"We'll have the pictures forever. We'll always see where he died. It's
part of history."
Seattle Times, 17 September 2001
His partner, Keith Bradkowski, said Collman was courageous and
safety-conscious. "He was so focused on safety," Bradkowski said. "If
there was a threat, he would have done anything in his power to prevent
it." He didn't normally work the Boston-to-Los Angeles route but made
an exception to get vacation time at the end of the month. Collman grew
up in Yorkville, Ill., and besides Bradkowski left behind four
brothers and a sister. (Seattle Times)
Further information: the fate of
Flight 11.
Sources
https://afacwa.org/jeffrey-collman/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5767989/jeffrey-dwayne-collman
and as attributed above.
