Oregonians mourn friends and family 1

Ashland Daily Tidings (Ashland, OR — Wayback)

2003-11-20

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--> --> Oregonians mourn friends and family PORTLAND (AP) - Oregonians with friends and relatives killed in the East Coast terrorist attacks mourned their loss Thursday as officials continued to sift through the wreckage thousands of miles away. A former Salem wildlife manager was on the hijacked plane that crashed in rural Pennsyl-vania. A former Portland man was on the plane that hit one tower of the World Trade Center. A West Linn man's mother and sister were on the plane that hit the other tower. A Portland college student lost her mother on the plane that hit the Pentagon. And a resident of The Dalles worries about his brother, who was last seen helping people out of a tower before it collapsed. Richard Guadagno, who spent eight years in the Salem area as a National Wildlife Refuge manager, was on United Flight 93 returning to his new home in northern California. Friends and family took comfort in speculating that the 38-year-old federal law enforcement officer might have helped thwart the hijackers before the jet crashed in a rural field in Pennsylvania. "That's my son," Jerry Guadagno, Rich's 77-year-old father, said from his home in Trenton, N.J. "He would do that." Maggie Meikle got to know Guadagno when she served as director of the Salem Audubon Society and he was manager of the Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge west of Salem. "Rich never backed away from doing the right thing in his life," she said. "On that plane, he was probably one of those people who said, `We're going to do our best to stop this from happening.' That would have been in character with Rich." Eric Hartono , 20, was on United Airlines Flight 175 when it was steered into the World Trade Center during Tuesday's attack. Hartono was in the process of moving from Boston to Los Angeles, friends said Wednesday. He was studying business in Boston and had visited Portland last month. Hartono, originally from Indonesia, attended City Christian High School in Portland from 1993 to 1998. His father is a vice president with Fuji Film. Former classmates remembered him as a warm person always surrounded by friends. They said he loved cars and basketball and was involved in a youth group. "He was a great kid," said Joel Fahndrich, Hartono's high school friend. "He was very humble and very kind. His family was billionaires, but he'd give you the shirt off his back." Michael Wahlstrom, of West Linn, found out his mother and sister were on American Airlines Flight 11 after a day of watching the attack's aftermath on television. Wahlstrom's mother, Mary Alice Wahlstrom, and sister, Carolyn Beug, were sitting in first class, said Michael Wahlstrom's sister-in-law Margaret Wahlstrom. "They were right up front. I worry that they were right there in the middle of the action," she said. Margaret Wahlstrom said Mary Alice was "scared to death" of flying and joined her daughter on the flight reluctantly. Beug, 48, was an award-winning music producer married to a Warner Brothers executive. Mary Alice Wahlstrom, 75, was a retired loan officer and "the life of the party," Margaret Wahlstrom said. They had gone to Boston to help move Beug's twin daughters into art school. University of Portland sophomore Imani Dorsey returned home to California on Wednesday after learning that her mother was on the plane that was hijacked from Washington, D.C. and crashed into the Pentagon. Dorsey, 18, a starting defender on the women's soccer team, heard from her father Tuesday morning and by late afternoon left Portland and drove home to Santa Monica, Calif. Jerry Ilken, a high school teacher in The Dalles, said hope for his brother Michael Ilken, 37, is vanishing. He worked on the 84th floor of the trade center's south tower. "We are losing hope as the minutes pass," Jerry Ilken said. "We are witnessing my sister-in-law on TV, holding up my brother's picture, begging to know if anyone has seen him." Michael called his wife, Monica, after the north tower was hit to say that he was evacuated from his office in the southern tower. He was last seen Tuesday morning near the 55th floor helping someone down the stairs. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing