Brooks-Jones, 90, reflects on 25 years since 9/11 changed her life
By Ashley Wiehe
Director of Advancement
Sept. 11, 2001. Even 25 years later, you probably remember exactly where you were and what you were doing. Maybe you were at work, getting ready to start your day. Maybe you were just waking up and rubbing the sleep out of your eyes. Maybe you were making breakfast for your kids to get them off to school. But Shirley Brooks-Jones, now 90 years old, was on a plane.
She left early that morning from Germany and was headed home to Columbus, Ohio. As their plane began to approach the East Coast of the United States, the captain came over the intercom and indicated a problem. They were being diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, for what the passengers were told at the time was for emergency repairs. They would quickly learn that the U.S. was under attack.
“I’m looking at Jo (her travel companion), and she’s looking at me, and we’re wondering what in the world is going on,” Brooks-Jones said. “The captain tells us that a plane had gone into one of the Twin Towers in New York City. Well, I’m old enough that I remember in 1945 that there was one of our military planes that had gone into the Empire State Building. It was a storm or something, and it had killed a bunch of people. And I’m thinking, but why would they close the borders?”
From there, the full scope of the attack was shared.
“I have never experienced such silence as our plane was,” she said.
For more than 28 hours, they had to wait — on the plane. In total, 38 jumbo jets were diverted to Gander and were told to wait. There were about 6,600 international travelers diverted to a town with a population fewer than 10,000.
By the next morning (Sept. 12), Brooks-Jones received word that the passengers could deplane. They were allowed to take their personal items — and Brooks-Jones made a special request to take the plane’s blankets and pillows — but they were not permitted to take their checked luggage.
They were loaded up on local school buses and taken into area towns. Brooks-Jones was headed to Lewisporte.
“All these little, tiny towns got together to figure out how many people they would be able to take care of,” she said. “I tell people this so many times — the logistics of what those people did just still absolutely blows my mind. It was amazing.”
Not only were they given places to stay in area churches, schools, and service clubs, but the people of these towns provided food, clothing, and even toys and diapers for the children.
“All we had were the clothes on our backs and whatever we had if we had a carry-on,” she said. “They had thought of everything.”
When they arrived, they finally began to comprehend what had happened. They gathered around a small TV in the Lewisporte Lions Club to see what had unfolded the day before.
“We were seeing it with our eyes, but it was hard to really realize that it was real,” Brooks-Jones said.
Brooks-Jones began to keep a journal — something she is hoping to publish as a book soon. Hour by hour she documented the watchfulness of the people of Lewisporte. The town and its businesses were shut down (all but the essentials) to care for these unexpected visitors.
"They set up the TVs, the phones, and everything — just to help the ‘plane people,’” she said.
By Friday, Sept. 14, the passengers learned that they would finally be going home. They offered their hosts money as a thank you, and they wouldn’t take it.
“They looked at us and shook their heads,” Brooks-Jones said. “They said, ‘No, you would do the same for us.’ When we got back to the buses to head back to the airport, I don’t think anybody said a word. I mean they were just so shocked at what we had just experienced.”
They found blessings in unexpected places.
“We had experienced the absolute best of mankind,” Shirley Brooks-Jones said. “We had experienced the very best in some of the worst times.”
As Brooks-Jones and her fellow passengers boarded their plane again, they began talking about their experiences and what they could do to support this town that gave so much to them.
The residents had fallen on hard times, and many of the kids had dropped out of school. For Brooks-Jones, it took her back to a time as a young girl in the Appalachian area.
“I understood that kind of thinking. There were no jobs,” she said.
The idea then came to start an endowed scholarship for the children in the areas of Lewisporte and Gander to support them at the present time and for many years to come. The challenge was that this plane had limited time before it landed at their next stop in Atlanta, Ga. From there, passengers would scatter. She had to get the word out.
But a flight attendant who had been watching this plan unfold helped her out, and she was able to give an intercom announcement to the entire plane.
“The pledge sheets went through the plane like crazy,” she said. “It was absolutely wonderful.”
From that day, 25 years ago, one single plane of people started a scholarship that has since helped 438 students.
“Each year, it keeps growing and growing,” she said. “It’s amazing to me what those people did for us. They didn’t have to do anything. They could have looked the other way. They didn’t do that. They really, truly cared.”
Brooks-Jones knew that God had placed her in a unique place, in a certain circumstance, to make a difference. And that impact has continued over decades as she has been able to share her story.
The story of the Gander airport and the weeks following 9/11 were turned into a musical titled “Come From Away.” Brooks-Jones, who is portrayed in the musical, has also been awarded the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador, the highest honor of the province.
As Brooks-Jones reflects on that time, she holds on to the words from Psalm 61:2b, “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” — a fitting verse from her time because Newfoundland is known as “The Rock.”
“I can’t believe all of the wonderful things that have happened to me in my life,” she said. “I am blessed, and I know it.”
Today, Brooks-Jones continues to live in Columbus, Ohio, and still works with the scholarship fund to support those families in Newfoundland who made such a difference for her and so many others on that fateful day 25 years ago.
Above photo from iStock: A piece of steel girder from the World Trade Center commemorates lives lost during September 11 and the compassion of local people in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.