Photograph courtesy of Phyllis Gutierrez
Former Sunnyvale resident Andrew Garcia, center, with is sister, Caroline McCallister, and his brother, Kenny are seen in an earlier photo. Andrew was one of the passengers on Flight 93, which was hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11 and crashed outside of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Former resident was on Flight 93
Garcia remembered for both his kindness and his selflessness
By Jana Seshadri
All four airplanes that were hijacked Sept. 11 were bound for California from the East Coast. Many Californians lost their lives when those planes crashed. When United Airlines Flight 93 went down in rural Pennsylvania, 45 people were on board, including 62-year-old Andrew Garcia.
Garcia, known as "Sonny" to his family, was born in Sunnyvale. After graduating from Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, Garcia attended San Jose State University. Garcia worked for United Airlines in the '60s, which is when he and his wife Dorothy met. After his marriage, Garcia bought a home in Portola Valley and moved there.
Andrew Garcia was returning home from a business trip on Flight 93 from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, when it crashed outside Pittsburgh, Pa. According to the FBI, the Boeing 757 took off from Newark at 8:01 a.m. with two pilots, five flight attendants and 38 passengers, including the four hijackers. The 19 total hijackers are believed to have taken over the four airliners in a coordinated attack.
When Garcia became aware that his plane was being hijacked, he called his wife on his cell phone. Soon after he said her name, "Dorothy," the line went dead. Sources say that there might have been a struggle between the passengers and the hijackers abord Flight 93 before the plane went down. There is speculation that some passengers might have tried to overpower the hijackers. Although it has yet to be determined who actually participated, Phyllis Gutierrez, Garcia's aunt, said he might have.
According to Gutierrez, a Sunnyvale resident, Garcia was a kind and pleasant man who always put others before himself. Gutierrez said he would do anything to help others.
"Sonny was probably attacking [the hijackers]," Gutierrez said of her nephew. "He couldn't have sat still."
Garcia leaves behind his wife, Dorothy, son, Andy Garcia, two daughters, Kelly and Audrey, and a granddaughter, Madison.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
