Memorial at school honors popular Las Vegas teacher

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

For more than a year after Palo Verde High School teacher Barbara Edwards died Sept. 11, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, her favorite spot for watching games at the campus soccer field stood empty.

"I'd glance over there from time to time," soccer coach and math teacher Kevin Hagood said. "It seemed wrong for her not to be there."

What seems right, Hagood said, is what he sees now when he looks toward the southeast corner of the playing field: a memorial to Edwards, complete with a stone seating area so the school's community can enjoy the same view that once delighted the popular language teacher.

"We're trying to move on but still show people what Barbara meant to people and the impact of losing her," Hagood said. "The memorial is a very positive, uplifting way of doing that."

Edwards, who taught French and German, was traveling with friends when her flight was hijacked by terrorists and crashed into the Pentagon. Gail Fahy, who runs the school's language program and was one of Edwards' closest friends, said the past two years have been a daily struggle.

"We had a service for her but when you don't see a casket or anything like that it almost doesn't seem real," Fahy said. "Part of me still thinks she's on vacation and is going to come back any day."

Sonja Johansen, one of Edwards' students, said she's noticed that when she thinks about her favorite teacher it's more often memories of happy moments -- not the image of a burning Pentagon that haunted her immediately following the terrorist attacks.

"I can think about the good things more now than how she must have been feeling when it happened," Johansen said. "Some day I'll bring my kids to the memorial and tell them about Mrs. Edwards."

The first anniversary was more about comforting the students and remembering Edwards, said Glenda Goetting, assistant principal at Palo Verde. This year, with fewer students who knew her, the focus has shifted to the soccer field memorial as a symbol of Edwards' spirit and the qualities she embodied, Goetting said.

"It's a place for kids or teachers to go and sit and just have a moment to themselves," Goetting said. "I went there the other night and the view of the city is wonderful. I think (Edwards) would be pleased with how beautifully it all turned out."

The memorial dedication will be held 9 a.m. Thursday, with the school choir performing. The American flag will be raised and remain flying, with a spotlight illuminating it at night.

The memorial, designed by JMA Architecture Studios, was paid for through a fund-raising drive and a grant from the Summerlin Children's Forum. Other major donors include the Howard Hughes Corp., Regency Ready Mix/Regency Design and Landscaping and Executive Homes.

Two scholarship funds have also been set up in Edwards' name, one through Palo Verde and the other through the Clark County Education Association.