Twenty-five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Batesville will come together Friday to remember the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives and to honor the lasting local connection to that day — Batesville native Sara Elizabeth Low.
Lyon College, the City of Batesville and the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a community Service of Remembrance and Reflection at 11 a.m. Friday, September 11, inside the Brown Chapel and Fine Arts Building on the Lyon College campus at 2300 Highland Road in Batesville.
The service is being hosted by the Lyon College Chaplain’s Office in partnership with the city and chamber as the nation marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh will speak about the impact the attacks had on the Batesville community, including the death of Batesville native Sara Low, a flight attendant aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
Members of the City of Batesville and Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce are expected to join Lyon College students, faculty, staff and members of the public for the remembrance.
Community members are encouraged to attend.
For Batesville and Independence County, September 11 is not only a chapter in American history. It is also the story of a young woman raised in Batesville whose actions during the final minutes of Flight 11 became part of the historical record of that morning.
BATESVILLE NATIVE ABOARD AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 11
Sara Elizabeth Low was 28 years old and a member of the American Airlines cabin crew aboard Flight 11.
Low was raised in Batesville and was a 1991 graduate of Batesville High School. She later attended the University of Arkansas and eventually pursued a career with American Airlines.
She had been with American Airlines for approximately two years when she reported for duty aboard Flight 11 on September 11, 2001.
The Boeing 767 departed Boston Logan International Airport bound for Los Angeles.
Low was working in the business-class cabin when terrorists hijacked the aircraft.
According to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, authorities believe Low provided fellow flight attendant Madeline “Amy” Sweeney with telephone calling-card information.
Sweeney then used an onboard AirFone to communicate with American Airlines flight-services manager Michael Woodward in Boston.
During those communications, Sweeney reported that the plane had been hijacked and provided critical information concerning what was happening aboard the aircraft.
She was able to relay descriptions and seat locations connected to the hijackers, information that helped airline officials and investigators begin identifying those responsible for the attack.
Low’s father, Mike Low, later wrote that FBI telephone records and Woodward’s deposition confirmed that Sara provided the family’s telephone number so Sweeney could charge the call.
In the letter, Low’s family said Sara spent the final minutes of her life continuing to perform her duties amid the violence aboard Flight 11.
American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. on September 11, 2001.
Sara Low, Amy Sweeney and everyone else aboard the aircraft were killed.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants listed Low among the nine Flight 11 flight attendants killed that morning.
WINGS CARRIED INTO AFGHANISTAN
Sara Low’s story did not end with Flight 11.
A pair of American Airlines flight-attendant wings would eventually travel thousands of miles from Batesville to the war in Afghanistan in her memory.
The wings belonged to Karyn Ramsey, who had been Low’s roommate in Boston and was a new American Airlines employee.
Ramsey attended a memorial service for Low in Batesville on September 15, 2001.
Following the service, Ramsey accompanied members of Low’s family to their home.
After hearing Mike Low talk about the pride he felt in his daughter and her career as an American Airlines flight attendant, Ramsey removed the wings from her own uniform and pinned them on Sara’s father.
Those wings later became part of an extraordinary tribute.
At Mike Low’s request, members of the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — known as the Night Stalkers — carried the wings on combat missions over Afghanistan.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants records that members of the 160th carried Sara Low’s flight-attendant wings on several missions in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Other APFA historical accounts say the wings were carried on more than 20 missions.
The APFA Executive Committee later voted unanimously to honor the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment for the tribute.
The wings were eventually returned to the Low family.
Mike Low had Sara’s name and a reference to the Afghan War engraved on the back before returning the wings to Ramsey.
With the support of Sara Low’s family, Ramsey later donated the wings to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where they became part of the continuing story of September 11.
A SECOND STORY OF COURAGE UNFOLDED ON 9/11
At almost the same time Sara Low and the other Flight 11 crew members were confronting an unimaginable emergency, a completely separate life-or-death situation was unfolding hundreds of miles away.
The two events were not connected, but the second story has also become an example of courage, compassion and determination on September 11.
At Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, a six-month-old girl named Kareena was desperately ill with liver failure and needed an emergency transplant.
A donor liver became available in Nashville, Tennessee.
Under ordinary circumstances, the organ could have been placed aboard a commercial aircraft and flown to Houston.
September 11, 2001, was anything but an ordinary day.
Following the terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered civilian air traffic across the United States grounded.
With commercial transportation unavailable, Tennessee Donor Services had to find another way to move the lifesaving organ from Nashville to Houston.
JILL GRANDAS REFUSED TO GIVE UP
Jill Grandas, who was working with Tennessee Donor Services, began searching for a way to get the liver into the air.
Grandas later recalled turning to the government section of a telephone book and finding the telephone number for the air-traffic-control tower at Nashville International Airport.
She called and explained that a six-month-old child in Houston could die if the liver could not be transported.
Instead of being told the mission was impossible, aviation officials, medical personnel and military officials began working together.
TENNESSEE AIR NATIONAL GUARD C-130 CLEARED TO FLY
A Tennessee National Guard C-130 military transport aircraft ultimately received authorization to make the emergency flight.
Nine Tennessee National Guard members reportedly took part in the mission.
The massive C-130 carried an unusually small but priceless piece of cargo — a donor liver needed to save a six-month-old child.
The aircraft transported the organ from Nashville to Houston despite the unprecedented shutdown of ordinary commercial aviation.
The liver reached Houston in time.
Kareena underwent the transplant on September 11, 2001, and survived.
Twenty-five years later, Kareena is now 25 years old and attending law school with an interest in health policy.
In 2026, Kareena and Jill Grandas finally met in person for the first time, bringing the remarkable September 11 story full circle.
C-130 WAS NOT LITERALLY THE ONLY AIRCRAFT IN THE SKY
Social-media posts have sometimes described the Tennessee National Guard C-130 as the only aircraft allowed to fly over the United States following the September 11 attacks.
That is not literally accurate.
Normal civilian and commercial flights were grounded, but authorized military, law-enforcement, firefighting and emergency medical flights continued to operate when necessary.
The C-130 carrying the donor liver was one of the extraordinary emergency flights authorized during the nationwide aviation shutdown.
TWO SEPARATE STORIES — ONE DAY OF EXTRAORDINARY COURAGE
There was no direct personal connection between Sara Low and the C-130 liver mission.
They were separate events unfolding in different parts of the country during the national emergency created by the September 11 attacks.
But 25 years later, both stories demonstrate what ordinary Americans did when confronted with extraordinary circumstances.
Aboard Flight 11, Sara Low helped provide information that allowed Amy Sweeney to communicate critical details of the hijacking to officials on the ground.
In Tennessee, medical professionals, aviation officials and National Guard members refused to allow the nationwide shutdown to prevent a dying child from receiving a lifesaving organ.
For Batesville, Sara Low’s story remains especially personal.
Her hometown will once again speak her name Friday as Lyon College, the City of Batesville and the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce gather in Brown Chapel to remember September 11.
Twenty-five years later, Sara Low remains Batesville’s direct connection to the lives lost aboard Flight 11 — and an enduring example of courage in the face of unimaginable circumstances.
SERVICE INFORMATION
Lyon College Service of Remembrance and Reflection
Friday, September 11, 2026
11 a.m.
Brown Chapel and Fine Arts Building
Lyon College
2300 Highland Road
Batesville, Arkansas
The service is presented by Lyon College, the City of Batesville and the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Batesville Mayor Rick Elumbaugh will share remarks about the local impact of September 11, including the loss of Batesville native Sara Low.
The community is encouraged to attend.
SOURCE ATTRIBUTION
Information for this story was verified through Lyon College, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, American Airlines, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and contemporary reporting concerning the Tennessee National Guard C-130 organ-transport mission.
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