Remembering 9/11: Eight Iowans Who Perished in the Attacks

On September 11th, 2001, more than three thousand lives were lost.

Two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and killed 2,792 people. In addition, 184 people lives were cut short when suicide flights crashed into the Pentagon and 40 more in the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

While this tragedy took place on the East Coast, many Midwesterners and Iowans or former Iowa residents were lost on that tragic day.

Here are eight people who called Iowa home that perished in these attacks.

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James D. Cleere

Cleere was working in the Marriott World Trade Center on the morning of the attacks. He had been working for a division of Mark and McLennan at the time and was on a business trip, according to reports.

The Newton resident saw the first tower go down from his hotel room. Cleere left two voicemails for his wife Jean.

Karen Ann Kincaid

This Waverly native was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington Dulles Internation Airport. At 9:37:46 A.M the plane crashed into the west side of the Pentagon. There were fifty-eight people on that doomed flight.

Kincaid was a partner in the communications practice of the law firm Wiley Rein & Fielding as well as an adjunct professor at CU’s Columbus School of Law.

When crews were clearing out debris from the site of the crash, they came upon a one-carat ring. It turned out to be her engagement ring and it somehow survived the crash.

Mari-Rae Sopper

Sopper was born in Illinois, but a major part of her life took place in Iowa.

She was a decorated gymnast and attended Iowa State. According to reports, the thirty-five-year-old earned her law degree from the Denver University School of Law while also acting as an assistant coach at the Colorado Gymnastics Institute.

This woman was also on the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon.

She was on her way to start her new job as the women's gymnastics coach at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Michael Tinley

Tinley was a vice president at Marsh & McLennan who was based in Dallas. However, his job took him all across the country.

He was on the 100th floor of the World Trade Center for business when American Airlines Flight 11 hit his company's offices.

He was a Council Bluffs resident for a time.

Tinley's daughter Lisa Kennedy described her father in a letter to the 9/11 Support Group Family twenty-years ago.

"It is very difficult at times because you can be enjoying a moment and then the next it is sad because he is not there to be able to enjoy it with me. My father was resilient, and I believe I inherited some of that quality."

Craig Scott Amundson

Amundson was only twenty-eight on September 11th, 2001, when he died in the Pentagon.

He was born in Cedar Rapids and raised in Anamosa, so he was an Iowa boy through and through. In addition, he got his bachelor's in film studies at the University of Iowa. Amundson owned a graphic design company called SockoDesign.

This young man also served his country as a member of the U.S. Army, where he received the Military Achievement Award.

After his death, Craig received the Purple Heart and Meritorious Service Award.

Lt. Col. Gary F. Smith

Smith was born in Council Bluffs and was living in Virginia at the time of the attacks. His time in the military spanned decades.

He went oversees several times and served in Vietnam and later held key roles in Europe and the U.S.

In 1991, ten years before his death, he retired Director of the Army Family Support Center.

Timothy Aaron Haviland

Haviland was born in Bar Harbor, Maine but moved to Ames when he was very young. He stayed in the Hawkeye State until it came time for him to go off to college. At that point, he made the move to Minnesota.

Haviland was vice-president and project manager for the insurance brokerage Marsh McLennan in 2001. He was working in his office the 96th floor of 1 World Trade Center when the attack happened.

Sandra Dawn Teague

While Teague was not a Midwest native, the world lost a great former Iowa resident that day.

She earned her master's in physical therapy from Des Moines University before getting a job at Georgetown University Hospital. The thirty-one-year-old was flying out on American Airlines Flight 77 for a three-week trip to Australia, according to reports.

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