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9/11 Flight Attendant Reaches Her Son 24 Years Later

Published by admin on September 18, 2026

A Letter That Waited Nearly a Quarter of a Century

The journey of the letter began long before Castrillo ever knew it existed.

In March 2001, Lyles wrote a short note to Jevon’s kindergarten teacher, Tammy Thurman. It was an ordinary message from a proud mother celebrating something that might seem small to the outside world: her young son had brought home a library book and read it from beginning to end.

But Lyles wanted his teacher to know how proud she was.

She put those feelings into a handwritten letter and sent it to Thurman.

Neither woman could have known that the note would eventually become one of the few surviving pieces of Lyles’s handwriting that her son could hold in his own hands.

Thurman kept the letter.

Years passed.

She moved four times and changed schools, but the note remained with her. She never threw it away or forgot about it. Somehow, through all those years and changes, the small piece of paper stayed safe.

Then came the moment when its story could finally continue.

WPTV reporter Jon Shainman came across the letter after it arrived at the station. Recognizing the significance of what he was holding, Shainman arranged to personally deliver it to Castrillo in Fort Pierce.

On a Tuesday, after nearly a quarter of a century, the letter was finally placed in the hands of the woman’s son.

A Teacher Who Never Forgot

The discovery also created an unexpected reunion.

Shainman arranged a video call between Castrillo and Thurman, the kindergarten teacher who had kept his mother’s letter for all those years.

For Thurman, holding onto the note had always been about more than preserving an old piece of paper. It was a connection to a student, a mother, and a moment in time that had taken on an entirely different meaning after September 11.

“As a mom, I know you need to see those words from your mom,” Thurman told Castrillo during the call. “She was a wonderful woman, and you were a wonderful student.”

The conversation became even more personal when Thurman surprised Castrillo with an old class photograph.

For a moment, the years seemed to disappear.

Castrillo was once again the young boy whose mother had proudly written to his teacher about his accomplishments.

Except now, more than 20 years later, that little boy was a grown man with a family of his own.

Overwhelmed by the gesture and the effort that had gone into preserving the letter, Castrillo expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you so much for both the roles you guys played in getting me this note. You guys did great,” he said.

Then came the moment he had been waiting for.

He began reading the words his mother had written in her own handwriting.

As he read, his voice became filled with emotion.

The letter was not a dramatic farewell. It was not written with any knowledge of what would happen months later. It was simply a mother proudly telling a teacher about her son.

And perhaps that was what made the moment even more powerful.

“Very touching,” Castrillo said after reading it. “It seems very sweet, and it seems like something she would definitely say, you know.”

The Words Cee Cee Lyles Left Behind

The letter captured a tiny moment in the life of a family — a moment that seemed ordinary at the time but became priceless after Lyles’s death.

In it, she proudly described her son’s accomplishment:

“Dear Ms. Thurman,

Jevon read a book last night that he brought home from the library. He read it from cover to cover. I told him I would write you a note and tell you what an outstanding job he did.

We are very proud of him and will continue to work with him at home.

Again, thank you for your dedication and courage for the job that you do.

Cee Cee Lyles”

Those words had been sitting quietly for years.

The letter was written before the world knew Cee Cee Lyles as one of the victims of September 11.

At the time, she was simply a mother writing to her son’s teacher because she was proud of him.

That is what makes the letter so meaningful today.

It preserved a piece of Lyles not defined by the tragedy that would eventually claim her life, but by the everyday love she had for her child.

From Police Detective to Flight Attendant

Cee Cee Ross Lyles’s story was about far more than September 11.

Before becoming a flight attendant, she had built a career in public service in Fort Pierce, Florida. She worked as a police officer and eventually became a detective.

But she also had another dream.

She wanted to become a flight attendant and see the world.

In January 2001, she finally achieved that goal when she joined United Airlines.

It was the beginning of a new chapter in her life.

She could not have known how short that chapter would be.

Just months after beginning her career with United Airlines, Lyles was working aboard United Flight 93 on the morning of September 11, 2001.

She was one of seven crew members aboard the Boeing 757 when the aircraft was hijacked as part of the coordinated attacks that morning.

The plane ultimately crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

All 40 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 were killed.

Lyles was among them.

A Son Who Now Has a Child of His Own

Today, Castrillo carries his mother’s memory into another generation.

He is no longer the little boy described in the letter.

He is now a father himself, with a three-month-old child.

That detail gives the old letter another layer of meaning.

The mother who once wrote proudly about her young son could never have known that one day he would be holding her words decades later as a father himself.

Castrillo has continued to honor her memory by trying to live a life that would make her proud — just as she once told his teacher that she was proud of him.

The letter therefore became more than a forgotten school note.

It became a bridge between two generations.

A few paragraphs written by a mother in 2001 suddenly carried a meaning that could not have been imagined when the ink was still fresh.

Her Legacy Remains in Fort Pierce

Cee Cee Lyles has not been forgotten in the community she called home.

In Fort Pierce and beyond, memorials have been created in her honor, including a statue and an engraved plaque bearing her name.

They serve as permanent reminders of the woman behind the tragedy.

Her story has also continued to be remembered through personal tributes from those who knew her.

On the anniversary of September 11 in 2019, reporter Jon Shainman shared a solemn video tribute connected to Lyles and the place where her memory continues to live. It offered another reminder that the passage of time has not erased the impact she had on those around her.

Then, on the anniversary of the attacks in 2025, a longtime friend remembered Lyles in a more personal way.

Rather than speaking only about the flight attendant who became a 9/11 hero, the friend remembered her as a “softball sister.”

The tribute recalled the summers they spent together playing softball and celebrated the woman behind the uniform — someone remembered for her energy, personality, friendship, strength, and joy.

Alongside a smiling portrait of Lyles in her flight attendant uniform, the tribute encouraged people to remember not only the tragedy of September 11, but also the individual lives that existed before that terrible morning.

Remembering the Woman, Not Just the Tragedy

For many families connected to September 11, memories are often reduced to a single date.

But Cee Cee Ross Lyles’s story reminds us that every name represents an entire life.

She was a mother.

She was a police officer.

She was a detective.

She was a friend.

She was a softball teammate.

She was a woman who had worked toward a new dream and finally achieved it.

And she was the mother who took the time to write a teacher because her young son had read a book from cover to cover.

That ordinary moment survived when so much else was lost.

For 24 years, the letter remained with Tammy Thurman, carried through four moves and multiple chapters of her own life. It waited quietly until the day it could return to the family it belonged to.

When Castrillo finally read it, he was not simply reading an old note.

He was hearing his mother’s voice through her handwriting.

He was seeing the pride she felt in him.

And he was being reminded that long before Cee Cee Lyles became a name associated with one of the darkest days in American history, she was simply a mother who loved her son.

The letter could not bring her back.

But after nearly a quarter of a century, it gave her son something precious that time had never been able to erase: her own words.

And in those words, Cee Cee Lyles lives on.

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