‘Life passes us very, very quickly’: Lauren’s Garden carries the story of 9/11 to a new generation

HOUSTON – Twenty-five years have passed, but for Larry Catuzzi, the loss of his daughter does not feel distant.

“I can’t imagine this has been 25 years,” Catuzzi said. “Life passes us very, very quickly.”

Catuzzi stood before a crowd gathered Friday at Lauren’s Garden in downtown Houston, a memorial he helped create after his daughter, Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas, was killed aboard United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.

The ceremony brought city leaders, first responders and community members together to remember Lauren and the 2,976 other people killed in the terrorist attacks. It also carried an increasingly urgent message: An entire generation now knows 9/11 only through history books, documentaries, recordings and the stories passed down by those who lived through it.

For Catuzzi, that makes preserving his daughter’s story — and the lessons of that day — more important than ever.

Remembering Lauren

Catuzzi described Lauren as his spirited middle daughter, an accomplished and adventurous young woman who approached life with energy, generosity and a determination to make things happen.

According to Catuzzi and Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Lauren had lived in the Houston area and worked as a successful marketing professional. Whitmire said she mentored young Girl Scouts as they worked to earn merit badges and wrote a book whose proceeds benefited Texas Children’s Hospital.

Catuzzi said his daughter’s adventurous spirit often kept her family guessing about what she might do next.

“We never knew what Lauren was doing,” Catuzzi said. “She was a skydiver, a scuba diver. She did so many things without advertising.”

On Sept. 11, 2001, Lauren was pregnant with her first child and eager to return home to her husband in California, according to Catuzzi. He said she changed her travel plans, leaving one day earlier than planned and boarding a flight that departed three hours before her originally scheduled flight.

That flight was United Flight 93.

“Sadness,” Catuzzi said when asked what he feels each year as the anniversary approaches. “I miss her like I did yesterday. She was a very outgoing person. They never knew what Lauren was doing one hour from the next. And she was just a beautiful woman, very, very accomplished, very productive, and a pleasure to love.”

United Flight 93 left Newark, New Jersey, on the morning of Sept. 11, headed for San Francisco.

Four terrorists hijacked the plane. Through phone calls made from the aircraft, passengers and crew members learned that other hijacked planes had struck the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.

Realizing their plane was part of the coordinated attack, the passengers and crew members fought back.

Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew members aboard. The four hijackers also died.

Investigators believe the hijackers intended to strike either the U.S. Capitol or the White House. The actions of the passengers and crew members prevented the plane from reaching Washington and likely saved many more lives.

Catuzzi told those gathered that he later served as president of the Families of Flight 93 organization and chairman of the Flight 93 memorial association. He said he made 41 trips to the crash site and helped secure the land needed to establish the national memorial in Pennsylvania.

Catuzzi said his family established the Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation after the attacks to find a meaningful way to honor Lauren, the passengers and crew members of Flight 93 and all those killed on 9/11.

He said the foundation also created a scholarship program that has helped more than 100 local students attend college.

After discussions with the foundation’s board, Catuzzi said the group decided to build a memorial in Houston. The city provided land at Market Square Park, and the foundation worked with architects, landscape professionals and construction firms to create Lauren’s Garden.

The memorial’s three granite panels represent the three areas attacked on 9/11: New York, the Pentagon and the field near Shanksville.

Water flows around 2,977 stones, one representing each person killed in the attacks. A bronze relief of Lauren stands at the garden’s center.

Although the garden bears Lauren’s name, Catuzzi said it was created to honor every victim and provide a permanent place where people could gather, reflect and remember.

Upon its completion, the foundation gave the garden to the city of Houston to maintain.

“It was somewhat satisfying to me to be able to honor Lauren this way,” Catuzzi said.

During Friday’s ceremony, Catuzzi and Whitmire placed a wreath in Lauren’s honor. A joint color guard from the Houston Police and Fire departments took part, and the Houston Police Pipe and Drum Band filled the garden with music.

Whitmire said the memorial has become a special place for Houston and represents the city’s ability to endure difficult moments through faith, community and unity.

“I often wonder how we get through moments like this—moments like 9/11,” Whitmire said. “And then I realized we do it together, leaning on one another and our faith.”

Whitmire described Lauren as a person with a can-do attitude who brought people together through her work, service and generosity.

“Our nation is stronger together than we are divided,” Whitmire said.

Teaching a generation that was not there

For people old enough to remember Sept. 11, the images and emotions remain vivid.

Robert Brand, a New York City native, said he was preparing to leave his Houston home for the airport that morning. He was supposed to fly to New York.

“Anybody that’s alive today and was alive back in 2001 will remember this day and where they were,” Brand said.

When asked why ceremonies remain important 25 years later, his answer was simple.

“Well, never forget, to me, is what it’s all about,” Brand said.

Joe Colonnetta, a native Houstonian, said remembrance must also include teaching younger people what happened, how the nation responded and why the lessons of that day still matter.

“One of the things that I prefer or would like to see is the younger generation understand exactly what has gone on or what went on 25 years ago,” Colonnetta said.

Colonnetta said he remembers Americans setting aside their differences in the aftermath of the attacks and supporting one another through fear, grief and uncertainty.

“Absolutely, and it should be that way, that we should be together,” Colonnetta said. “The problem is, in my opinion, is that we see so much dislike of each other when 25 years ago, we were brought together. We were all brothers and sisters that loved each other. And today, you don’t see that.”

Colonnetta said parents and grandparents who remember that day have a responsibility to share their experiences with people born afterward.

“I want the people that were here that day, the parents of the young people that were after 2001 to say this is what really happened,” Colonnetta said. “And this you know if it’s a video or podcast or whatever they should be able to understand and maybe maybe we wouldn’t all be mad at each other that way if they understood what happened 25 years ago.”

Carrying Lauren’s spirit forward

For Catuzzi, teaching the next generation is not limited to explaining how his daughter died. He said he also wants people to understand how she lived and to follow her example by giving back to their communities.

“I want them to see this park and realize that giving back to the community is terribly important,” Catuzzi said. “And that’s what we did for Laurie. And I think she’s pleased. I hope she is. And I hope they’re the giving kind of person that Lauren was 25 years ago.”

Lauren’s name is one of 2,977 represented in the garden. Each belonged to a person who was loved, whose absence continues to be felt and whose life left behind a story worth telling.

Twenty-five years later, Lauren’s Garden stands as more than a memorial to the past. Those gathered Friday said it is also a place where a new generation can learn what happened, discover who was lost and understand the courage shown aboard Flight 93.

They hope the anniversary also reminds the country of what followed the attacks: a time when Americans leaned on one another, stood together and found strength in their shared humanity.

For those who lived through 9/11, remembering is personal. For those who did not, the people gathered at Lauren’s Garden said the responsibility is now theirs — to listen, to learn and to carry those stories forward.

For Catuzzi, carrying Lauren’s memory forward means inspiring others to live as she did: giving back with generosity and heart.

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