The Catholic Spirit

ST. PAUL, Minn. (The Catholic Spirit) - Minnesota native Thomas Burnett Jr. once told his wife, Deena, that he believed God had a message for him. At the time, Burnett didn’t know what the message was, but he told his wife, “I know it will impact a great number of people, and it has something to do with the White House.”

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Burnett’s words proved prophetic as the hijacked airplane he was on, presumably targeting the White House, crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field. Voice recordings recovered from the plane later revealed how Burnett rallied his fellow passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 in what has been heralded as a heroic attempt to take back control of the plane from the hijackers.

By fighting back, Burnett’s actions cost him his life that day. But his memory lives on in a new book co-authored by Deena Burnett and Minneapolis public relations specialist Anthony Giombetti.

In Fighting Back, published by Advantage Books, Deena Burnett writes about her husband’s upbringing in Bloomington; four cell-phone conversations she had with him during the hijacked flight, when he told her he was “going to do something” to stop the hijackers; how she coped with her grief in the weeks and months following his death; and the message she believes her husband had for the world.

As the fifth anniversary of her husband’s death neared, Deena Burnett, 42, spoke with The Catholic Spirit about her new book and life after Sept. 11, 2001.

Tom’s message

When Burnett began writing Fighting Back, she said she had no intention of publishing a book. Rather, she wanted to chronicle for her children “who Tom was and the values that he lived with.”

“As I wrote the book,” she said, “I felt like it evolved into Tom’s message, not just for his children, but for the world.... I really believe that the values that Tom lived with, the values that he taught his children and me, were something that each of us could benefit from, perhaps strengthening our integrity, giving us courage, and encouraging our faith.”

Burnett said she believes her husband would prefer to be remembered as a good citizen rather than a hero. “I think he would want the life that he led and his actions on Flight 93 to serve as an example of what each of us should do as called upon,” she said.

“And if that means that each of us should be a hero, then so be it. But I think that he would look at it more as it was the right thing to do as opposed to being the actions of a hero.” A dedication in the book says: “This book is dedicated to my husband, Tom Burnett, for the love he gave, the wisdom he shared, and the values he taught. I would rather have been married to him for a few short years than spend a lifetime with a lesser man.”

Model of faith

Thomas Burnett Jr., a lifelong Catholic, attended St. John’s University in Collegeville and St. Edward in Bloomington. Burnett said she converted to the Catholic faith when she married her husband because of the strength of his convictions and the desire to raise their children Catholic.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Burnett said, her Catholic faith played a major part in helping her to cope with the loss of her husband. “I’ve learned by converting to Catholicism that God is a God of love instead of one of retribution and condemnation,” said Burnett. “That perspective of who God is, is what kept me from becoming angry after Tom’s death.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Burnett said, she spent many hours in church praying for strength. Looking back, she believes that time in prayer brought her closer to God and led to a more trusting relationship with him.

“I think that before Tom died, I was always just a little bit skeptical as to how much I could lay at the altar of God’s feet,” Burnett said, choking back tears, “and I have learned that you really can lay it all down.” Burnett said she believes strongly that God had a purpose for her husband on Flight 93 and that God had been preparing her and her husband for that day since they first met.

However, Burnett has struggled to understand God’s purpose for her own life, she confided. “What I have found is Tom’s death gave me a platform to share my faith and to talk about God with the world,” Burnett said.

“And if [God] can use me in some small way to share his love with someone who doesn’t know it, then perhaps, too, I’m somehow purposed in all of this.” The title of Burnett’s book refers to how she “fought back to find purpose and joy in her life again,” according to the back cover.

Besides chronicling her husband’s life for her children, Burnett said, her book served as a kind of “self-inventory,” a way of taking stock of the blessings in her life. “I knew I had lost Tom, and it was incredibly heartwrenching,” Burnett said.

“But what I had left were three beautiful children. And more than that, I had the support and gratitude of a nation. I had an incredible network of friends and family. I had the comfort and peace that God intends for us.

"The one thing that I hope people take away from my book is that it’s important to be grateful for what you have left as opposed to being consumed for what you have lost,” Burnett added. “If you can do that, that’s where the difference lies in your ability to move on with your life and have a life that is meaningful and joyful.”

Today, Burnett said, “life is absolutely great.” She recently remarried and is raising her 10-year-old twins and 8-year-old daughter, in Little Rock, Ark. “After Tom died, I never would have imagined that I could say that again,” she said. But “it’s been a long five years, and we’ve come a long way.”