Lisa Beamer

Cover of Let's Roll, by Lisa Beamer.

Lisa Brosious Beamer (born April 10, 1969) is the widow of Todd Beamer, a victim of the United Flight 93 crash as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. She is a 1991 graduate of Wheaton College; she gave the 2011 commencement address at Wheaton.^[1]

9/11 aftermath

At the time of the attacks, she was 5 months pregnant with her daughter, Morgan Kay, who was born on January 9, 2002. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the pregnant Beamer had a high profile, with more than 200 media appearances in 6 months. She was introduced by President George W. Bush at a commemoration ceremony. Shortly after the attacks, she set up the Todd M. Beamer Memorial Foundation, which was initially run by a family friend.^[2] The organization sought to trademark the phrase "Let's Roll," which was the subject of some criticism after some accused her of seeking to profit from her husband's death.^[3]

Let's Roll & Todd M. Beamer Foundation

In 2003, Beamer and co-author Ken Abraham wrote a book about Todd and her attempts to deal with her grief over his death, Let's Roll!: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage.^[4] The book is about Todd and Lisa's life before the crash and her life since. Royalties from the book were donated to the Todd M. Beamer Foundation (since renamed Heroic Choices), which was founded in 2001 by Lisa Beamer and others to build resiliency in children who have suffered trauma. As of 2007, Beamer's foundation, Heroic Choices, was struggling to maintain financial viability. According to the Board Chair, "[as with any charity created after 9/11], the farther you get away from the event, the more difficult it is to raise funds."^[5]

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