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Taking Miss J to Disneyland

They were best friends, close as sisters, and they were headed to California. Paige Farley- Hackel, and Ruth McCourt were going to fly from Boston together on United Airlines Flight 175, but when Ms. Farley- Hackel realized she could use frequent flyer miles, she got a ticket for American Airlines Flight 11 instead. Ms. McCourt, who was flying with her 4-year-old daughter, Juliana, and Ms. Farley-Hackel said goodbye in the early morning hours at Logan International Airport in Boston on Sept. 11, and boarded their planes.

The women had planned on meeting in Los Angeles and taking Juliana to Disneyland. Ms. Farley-Hackel's plane was hijacked and struck the north tower of the World Trade Center. Ms. McCourt's and Juliana's flight, hijacked as well, crashed into the south tower shortly thereafter.

The mother and daughter would have been a striking pair sitting together, said Ms. McCourt's mother, Paula Clifford Scott, what with Ms. McCourt's long red hair and Juliana's blond locks. She was only 4, but already Juliana, nicknamed Miss J, displayed a little sense of wit.

"And she was a nurturer like her mother," Ms. Scott said.

Ruth McCourt, who was 45 and a homemaker from New London, Conn., met Ms. Farley-Hackel at the day spa she used to own in Boston. She gave up the business when she got married six years ago, but the friendship lasted. The two women often traveled together. They shared passions for reading and cooking and learning new things.

Ms. Farley-Hackel, who was 46 and a writer and motivational speaker from Newton, Mass., was looking forward to having the first few episodes of her new radio program, "Spiritually Speaking," hit the airwaves. She had a dream: in two years or so, she wanted to either be featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" or be Oprah's biggest rival, said her husband, Allan Hackel.

Recently, the Oprah show included a memorial segment about Ms. Farley-Hackel's friendship with Ms. McCourt and Juliana.

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 13, 2001.


Ruth Clifford McCourt, 45, and Juliana Valentine McCourt, 4, New London, Conn. They were looking forward to a weeklong California trip that would include a spiritual conference at the Deepak Chopra Center for Well Being in San Diego, and a visit to Disneyland. McCourt, 45, lived for years in Newton, where she opened a day spa, Clifford Classiques.

Profile courtesy of WWW.BOSTON.COM.