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By Emi Endo
STAFF WRITER
September 13, 2001
LeRoy Wilton Homer Jr., 36, a commercial airline pilot who went to
high school in West Islip, was celebrating the birth of his daughter
and looking forward to her first airplane trip last winter.
In a Christmas letter he and his wife, Melodie, sent to family and
friends last year, the couple announced the birth of Laurel Nicole
Homer
on Oct. 25.
His wife wrote, "Although LeRoy kept telling me he was going to pass
out in the delivery room, he was an excellent coach."
Homer, of Marlton, N.J., was listed as the first officer on United
Airlines Flight 93, the San Francisco-bound plane from Newark that
crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Thomas Dockery, 36, of Dix Hills, who was good friends with Homer
throughout high school, yesterday called Homer "one of the nicest
guys you could ever meet." Dockery described him as smart, friendly
and outgoing. He said Homer played on the football team in high school.
"He always wanted to be a pilot," he said. "He always talked about
flying a plane when we were younger."
Dockery's mother, Anne Dockery of Deer Park, said yesterday, "I turned
on the television, and at the bottom of the television they were showing
the pilots. I saw LeRoy Homer come across the screen and just screamed."
Her son's friend, she said, was "just the perfect son."
There were reports yesterday that the crew aboard Flight 93 may have
crashed the hijacked jetliner before it could hit its intended target.
Thomas Dockery said that if Homer participated in the effort, "That's a
hero. He gave up his life so other people wouldn't get killed."
He added, "He would always do that, he would always go out of the way to
help people." Dockery recalled the time they were going to the movies
and drove by somebody with a flat tire. "He pulled over so he could help
people," he said.
Homer graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,
Colo., as a captain in 1987, an academy spokeswoman said. After that, he
went on to be a liaison recruiter for admissions, working with high
school students interested in attending the academy. He was promoted
to major in 1999.
He and Melodie were married on May 24, 1998, taking their honeymoon in
the South Pacific.
Homer flew 757 and 767 jetliners out of Kennedy Airport, making trips to
South America, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Delhi.
The couple enjoyed traveling, taking a Caribbean cruise with Melodie's
family in February 1999; celebrating their first anniversary in Southern
California and Las Vegas, and visiting Athens and the Greek islands of
Mykonos and Santorini.
In the couple's most recent holiday letter, Melodie Homer mentioned a
summer getaway last year to London with her parents -with Homer in the
cockpit. She wrote, "This was a big thrill for them to have their
son-in-law fly the plane."
Joking that they missed being able to sleep in because of their newborn,
they wrote, "We are looking forward to 2001, and hopefully more sleep in
the upcoming months. We wish you all the best for the New Year. Love,
Melodie & LeRoy."
Copyright © 2001,
Newsday, Inc.
Sept. 16, 2001
LeRoy Wilton Homer Jr., 36, of Marlton, N.J., was listed as the first
officer on United Airlines Flight 93, the San Francisco-bound plane
from Newark that crashed in Pennsylvania.
Homer graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,
Colo., as a captain in 1987. After that, he went on to be a liaison
recruiter for admissions, working with high school students interested
in attending the academy. He was promoted to major in 1999. He and his
wife, Melodie, were married on May 24, 1998.
-- Jeff Long
(The Chicago Tribune)
09/20/01
Killed in the plane that struck the Pentagon Building was Leroy Homer,
a 1983 graduate of St. John the Baptist High School, and a former West
Islip resident who was the jet’s co-pilot. A list of others
confirmed dead or missing is still in the process of being compiled
but doubtless is the fact that many lived and worked and raised their
families in our communities.
Excerpt from article by Carolyn James in
The Babylon Beacon.
By Collin Nash
STAFF WRITER
September 25, 2001
A service is scheduled for Friday at the Meadow View Junior Academy in
Trenton, N.J., in memory of Plainview-born LeRoy Wilton Homer Jr., first
officer on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93. The Desert Storm
veteran died with his crew and passengers when the San Francisco-bound
plane from Newark crashed Sept. 11 in rural Pennsylvania. He was 36.
Homer was born to fly, said his mother, Llse Homer of Hauppauge. Even
as a toddler, he would plead with his parents on trips to the airport
to stay a while so he could watch the planes take off and land. It was
in
his blood so much that as a teen he teamed up with his neighborhood pal
Bobby Popp cleaning medical buildings locally to earn money for flying
lessons. "He learned how to fly before he learned how to drive," his
mother said.
He earned his pilot's license at age 16 before earning his diploma
from St. John the Baptist High School, West Islip. An honors student,
he received a presidential nomination from the Reagan administration
to attend West Point Military Academy, but the helicopter flight program
didn't fit in his plans. He declined the appointment, stubbornly focusing
on his dream of flying commercial jetliners. Paying his dues, he joined
the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, graduating in 1987 with
a humanities degree.
Homer piloted the C-141 Starlifter cargo plane during an eight-year
Air Force career, part of which he served in the Gulf War. He finally
realized his dream in 1995 when he joined United Airlines, flying 757s
and 767s out of Kennedy Airport. He remained active in the Air Force
Reserves, serving at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey - where he
bought a home in Marlton - as a liaison recruiter working with high
school students interested in attending the academy.
Three years later, he married his wife, Melodie. Laurel, the couple's
10-month-old daughter, was his "heart and soul," Llse Homer said. She
said the irony of his violent death is that he was such a "gentle,
nonviolent" being. "I believe in the last moments of his life he forgave
those terrorists."
In addition to his mother, wife and daughter, he is survived by three
sisters, Monique and Michelle Homer, both of Hauppauge, and Christine
(Kiki) Homer of Manhattan; half-sisters Marilyn Johnson of Corona,
Germaine Wilson of Springfield Gardens, Theresa Cooke-Pooche Ramirez
of Herndon, Va., and Cheryl Wilson of Alexandria, Va.; a half-brother,
Thomas Freimark Sr. of Tallahassee, Fla.; and several nieces and nephews.
The service at the academy will start at 2 p.m.
Copyright © 2001,
Newsday, Inc.
09/27/01
Walter Lace, a teacher at St. John the Baptist remembers Leroy Homer, a
student who grew up in Deer Park to become a pilot and one of the more
than 6,400 victims of the terrorist attacks September 11. Homer was
co-pilot on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
Homer, who was a parishioner at Sts. Cyril and Methodius R.C. Church in
Deer Park. Lace describes him as a good student; an honor student and
national merit scholar. "He was just an all around nice person and was a
good athlete," said Lace. "He was very involved in school and was on
spring and winter track."
After leaving Deer Park and and his family moved to Hauppauge. At the
time of his death, Homer lived in New Jersey.
Picture and article from The Babylon Beacon.
LeRoy Homer was always soft-spoken. His compassion touched everyone he
met, and his love ran deep.
09/29/01
LeRoy Wilton Homer Jr. died a hero. His family and friends who filled
the Meadow View Junior Academy in Chesterfield yesterday are sure of it.
Mr. Homer, 36, was first officer on the hijacked United Airlines Flight
93 out of Newark International Airport Sept. 11 that crashed near
Pittsburgh, killing all on board.
Earlier that day, three other hijacked planes rammed prominent U.S.
landmarks, claiming more than 6,000 lives. It is believed Flight 93 was
averted from a similarly grim purpose by people aboard the plane who
struggled with the hijackers.
Yesterday, before a crowd of more than 400 -- half of them fellow pilots
or flight attendants -- family and friends remembered the Marlton
resident, husband of Melodie for 31/2 years and father of a 10-month-old
girl.
"When LeRoy left for work September 11th he had no idea what the day had
in store for him," said brother-in-law Broderick Thorpe. "But he left us
with a gift: his daughter, Laurel. She will hear about Flight 93 and his
heroic last moments on this earth."
The eulogists talked about Mr. Homer as a man who had dreamed of flying
since he was 6. They talked about Sunday family excursions to airports
to watch planes take off. He earned his pilot's license at 16, before
he graduated from high school and flew for the Air Force before piloting
commercial jetliners.
"We have not lost a brother or a son or a husband," said one of his
seven sisters, Cheryl Homer-Wilson. "We have gained a guardian angel."
His mother bid her son: "Fly with God, my darling LeRoy."
There was no body. No casket. Just his image flashing across a movie
screen in the school's gymnasium -- and then his voice. He was making
a speech at his wedding, and later pictures showed him and Melodie
dancing.
He was also remembered as a soft-spoken man with an ever-present smile
and a heart of gold. And a bright boy shaped by a female- dominated
household -- he was one of nine children, seven of them girls.
"It's a shame how all the good people are taken away from us," said a
sister, Michelle Homer.
The service ended with a 21-gun salute and the release of red, white and
blue balloons.
Mr. Homer, who grew up on Long Island, graduated from the U.S. Air Force
Academy in Colorado Springs in 1987. During his eight- year military
career, including service during the Gulf War, he flew cargo planes.
He joined United Airlines in 1995, flying jumbo jets out of Newark and
Kennedy International Airport.
Other survivors include his brother, Thomas Freimark Sr., and sisters
Marilyn Johnson, Germaine Wilson, Theresa Cooke-Poche Ramirez, Monique
Homer and Christine Homer.
Donations may be made to the LeRoy Homer Child Fund, c/o Commerce Bank,
336 Rt. 70 E, Marlton, N.J. 08053.
-- Judith Lucas
The Star-Ledger
Sunday, October 21, 2001
LeRoy Homer Jr.
Marlton
Married, 36, daughter age 1
First officer, United Flight 93, which crashed in western Pennsylvania
On LeRoy Homer's living-room wall hangs a framed collage of
black-and-white photos of him; his wife, Melodie; and their baby
girl, Laurel.
It contained all that was important to him.
Married for three years, a father for one, LeRoy Homer had turned their
Marlton house into a picture-perfect homestead, with a wide front porch
and a yard spacious enough to accommodate the daughter he adored and,
possibly in the future, a terrier.
Two days before the hijacking that took his life, he and Melodie went to
a pet store to pick out a pup. He would have preferred a golden
retriever or a yellow Lab, but compromised on eventually bringing home
a Jack Russell.
His vision of family life, his wife said, was drawn from his childhood
in
Hauppauge, Long Island - in particular, growing up with seven sisters.
"He really was an introspective child," she said. "Let's just say he was
more quiet."
That's also where LeRoy developed his love of animals, particularly dogs.
Sharing his boyhood home were the mischievous Jonathan and Corey, with
whom "LeRoy was the only one who had patience," Melodie said.
He became a traveler early on, as well. The Homer family would pile into
the station wagon and trek around the country, having adventures. Years
later, he would tell his wife that it was something "every kid should
experience."
He traveled a lot with Melodie, taking spur-of-the-moment trips to, say,
Greece or London. He had hoped to take his wife to Brazil, Hong Kong and
Germany.
"We always did things," she said. "That's one thing I don't regret."
His job with United meant that LeRoy Homer also traveled alone a lot.
Whenever he had an early morning flight, he would quietly get up and get
dressed in the bathroom, so as not to wake Melodie. And always before he
left, he would kiss her on the forehead - a ritual last repeated at 5:30
a.m. on Sept. 11.
Philadelphia Inquirer
They lived on opposite coasts - he in New Jersey, she in California -
and had been carrying on a brief telephone relationship after being
introduced by friends.
View/sign LeRoy Homer's
Guest Book provided by the
New York Times.
