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She serves as a beacon of hope for the victims of America’s most famous terrorist attack, both a heroine for other families and a tireless advocate so that their loss will never be forgotten. Sandy Dahl too will never be forgotten as the wife of United Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.

Photo: Sandy Dahl

He piloted the doomed plane that went down in a torched field in the middle of Pennsylvania on September 11th, 2011 near Shanksville in Somerset County. We all remember that plane — the fourth plane — in which the heroic passengers on board fought the hijackers for control of the aircraft. It was the last plane to go down, and thanks to cellular phones and text messaging, at its infancy eleven years ago, they knew what was in store for them. All of them are heroes, but none of them are household names to the public as much as Mrs. Dahl.

After the funeral, Sandy Dahl emerged as an advocate for the victims. First she started the Dahl Fund which provided scholarships for aspiring pilots to achieve their own dreams in the air that her husband so loved. Perhaps more importantly she went on a years long quest to establish a permanent memorial on the spot of the plane crash, assuring that the brave Americans on board that day would not have their final resting spot overrun with tract homes or future freeways. Her journey was finally realized with the creation of the Flight 93 memorial.

I am sorry to say that Mrs. Dahl passed away due to natural causes on May 24th, 2012 in her Colorado home. She was 52 years old and her passing comes as a shock to friends and family alike. She seemed perfectly healthy physically to her friends and there was no prior expectation of illness. Read more here.

We will link to her obituary when it is published. She had two children from a prior marriage, a daughter about 30 years old now and a younger son who is no longer living. If you know of a fund that has been set up for funeral arrangements and any other needs, please let our readers know in the comments.

A close friend named Jewel Wellborn was quoted in a local newspaper saying, “She died of a broken heart and probably the stress but you know you never would have known it unless you knew her really, really, deeply.” You can watch that interview over here.

In an interview last year Sandy revealed that she still had nightmares about that fateful day over a decade ago, and that she has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. From some tragedies we can never recover fully, and for her losing the husband she loved and the father of her children was too much to bear for so long. You can read that interview here.

Photos of the Dahl family and children are below along with more pictures of Sandy Dahl and her husband. Please leave your comments below and help us remember the victims of 911. That is all that Sandy wanted in the last ten years.