New dad receives 24-year-old letter penned by his hero flight attendant mom shortly before she was killed on 9/11

Jevon Castrillo, a 30-year-old Florida man who recently became a father, was surprised to receive a handwritten letter from his mother, CeeCee Lyles, a flight attendant who was killed on United Airlines Flight 93 during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The note was written in March 2001 for Castrillo’s kindergarten teacher, praising his budding reading skills and offering encouragement from his mother.

Lyles, a Fort Pierce resident who had previously served as a police officer, was aboard Flight 93 when hijackers seized control of the aircraft. The plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field at 10:03 a.m. after passengers and crew attempted to retake the plane. She left a voicemail for her husband at 9:47 a.m., describing the crisis and expressing her love, and later spoke with him after 10 a.m., saying they were trying to regain control of the situation as best they could.

Tammy Thurman, the kindergarten teacher who received the letter, kept it for years as she moved between schools in the county. The original envelope disappeared, but the letter remained intact. Thurman eventually handed the note to Castrillo and his family, and a statue of Lyles was later erected in Fort Pierce to honor her memory.

Castrillo, now a new father to a 3-month-old, says the letter has given him a direct link to his mother. He told local outlets that seeing the note transported him back to his early childhood and to the memory of a mother who encouraged him long before she died on that September morning.

Flight 93 is often the least remembered of the four planes involved in the 9/11 attacks. The hijackers redirected the plane toward targets in or near Washington, D.C., but passengers and crew tried to retake control, and the aircraft ultimately crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field. Lyles is remembered as part of the broader story of the courage displayed on that day.