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Laurie Laychak was substitute teaching when a note was delivered to her 2nd-grade class. There had been an attack on the Pentagon, it read.. Laychak's husband, David, 40, worked there as a civilian budget analyst for the U.S. Army. She went to their Manassas, Va., home and spent the day praying he would call.

"That night, I couldn't go to sleep," she said. "I was afraid that if I stopped praying, that something bad would happen."

David Laychak worked for the Army for 17 years, his wife said. His father had been a career officer, and Laychak later regretted not joining up. "He really believed in serving his country and helping keep us safe and free," his wife said.

The talented athlete loved sports and being outdoors. But his main hobby was spending time with family. He played hide-and-seek, taught his kids baseball and basketball, and wrestled around on the ground.

"I'd have to call all three of them in for dinner," his wife said.

Other grieving families have said they cannot bear to look at the Pentagon again. She does not feel that way. It is where the couple met in 1984, when both worked there.

"If it weren't for the Pentagon, I would never have met him," she said.

Profile courtesy of THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE.