Mary Jane Booth, Flight 77

[mirandapriestly]

I am looking into the names on the list for Flight 77. I suppose it is interesting enough that MJ Booth worked for the general manager of American Airlines at Dulles, but I think there is more to her and it is hard to find information. Hopefully some of you can help.
First of all, in the following article, and others, it is mentioned that MJ Booth had her ashes buried in the columbarium at Arlington Cemetery. Is there an Arlington Cemetery other than Arlington National ? If not, then don't you have to be military to be buried there? The article also mentions her husband James Booth who had died two years earlier, but I have looked extensively and can't find any specifics on him. I did find a James Booth from Virginia affiliated with the Huey helicopter from Vietnam. http://www.americashuey.com/huey.nsf/ourteam.htm
but I can't say if that is him, it is a fairly common name. That group is sponsored by American Airlines and Dyncorp and it is also affiliated with the Swiftboat crew. In fact there is a Swift-boater named James Booth, but he would not have been dead two years prior to 2001. That might not be true, though. (Her husband might not have been dead.)
MJ Booth also lived in Falls Church, VA which is the home of the Raytheon Intelligence & Information Systems which works on UAV systems (Global Hawk). This wouldn't mean that much, except Falls Church only is several square miles and Raytheon has thousands of employees, so there is a good chance that you would work there if you lived there.
It is amazing how many people are closely related to Global Hawk technology or UAV's who were on 77. I'm not saying that MJ Booth was, but I haven't found out about her husband yet. Also her AA boss, Dennis Hazell, has little information on him, he almost sounds like an outline of a person.

So, if anyone knows about Arlington Cemetery or James Booth, I'd appreciate it.
Article on MJ Booth:
http://www.paws-claws.org/Pentagonarticle.htm

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. There's definitely lots of interesting 'coincidences'

when it comes to the passangers on these flights.

One question why was she taking a flight to California if she was going to Las Vegas. Seems a roundabout way to go?


For someone so many people knew and loved there's more info about her dog, then herself. These are the only two tidbits that I can find, that seem to get repeated in numerous sites about the passengers on Flight 77.


MARY JANE (MJ) BOOTH, 64, of Falls Church, Va., was a familiar face at Dulles International Airport in suburban Virginia. An American Airlines employee for 45 years, she worked for more than 30 years as secretary to American's general manager at Dulles. Everyone called her MJ, except at the annual American holiday party when she dressed up in costume and went by the name Mrs. Santa Claus. Booth was a passenger aboard American's Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. She was on her way to Las Vegas for a meeting of the employees' credit union.

http://www.legacy.com/nytimes/Sept11.asp?Page=TributeStory&PersonId=91741


Booth spent most of her life in Northern Virginia, growing up in Arlington and settling in Falls Church. She was widowed two years ago and had no children. Her sister, Nancy Kimbell, lives in Dallas, and she also is survived by a niece, Kendra, and a nephew, Keith.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A34507-2001Sep14

[sgsmith]

2. Flight schedules

Roundabout to go from IAD to LAX to LAS? Yes, it is. But if you search on American Airlines web site, American's system doesn't seem to go directly to LAS from IAD. Flight options are either through LAX, DFW or ORD. Why don't you try to search for a flight on AA's site and see what routes are given to you as options?

And, as an American Airlines employee, I'm sure they would put her on AA flights when travelling for business.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Then why would American Airlines have their Credit Union meeting

in a city they don't even service?

According the AA Credit Unions website, they are based in Fort Worth, Tx. Why not have the meeting there? I'm a member of a credit union, they always have their meetings at the main branch, not in some other city.

[sgsmith]

5. What???

American DOES service LAS, just not directly from IAD. They fly (at least today) into LAS from LAX, DFW and ORD.

Who knows why the credit union was having a meeting in Vegas? It's likely to have been a high performers award of some sort. Have a little fun, gamble a little, thank the good folks for whatever performance targets they've exceeded. That sort of thing.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. I didn't think people

actually even went to those meetings, but who knows. Obviously, this woman lived an exciting life between playing Santa Claus and going to Credit Union meetings there is not much else out there about her. Sort of sad in a way.

[mirandapriestly]

8. Well, supposedly there was a credit union meeting

but who travels cross country to do that? I have looked for more info on her and there is nothing except names. Why don't they say anything about her husband?

[Jazz2006]

4. All of the Flight 77 and Pentagon victims were buried at Arlington

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/11/september11/main521560.shtml

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/oneyearlater/s_91229.html

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Sep2002/n09122002_200209123.html

[mirandapriestly]

7. I thought that because of the Burlingame issue

that everyone was not eligible. But I guess they were eligible for the columbarium, which is where they were going to put him before he got his own plot after the big ordeal. So the individual plot was the issue, not the cemetary...