Remembering Eagle Rock's 9/11 Victim

Eagle Rock resident Ruben Ornedo was on American Airlines Flight 77 to Los Angeles from Washington Dulles International Airport when the Boeing 757, with 64 people on board, crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

A satellite communications engineer for Boeing in El Segundo, Ornedo, 39, had been away on an extended business trip and had taken a day off in the hope of seeing Sheila, his 32-year-old wife of three months, who was pregnant.

Patch pays a tribute to Ornedo and hundreds of others who were touched by terror on 9/11—you may view a collage of their photographs by clicking here.

Born in the Philippines, Ornedo graduated from L.A.’s Fairfax High School and went on to earn a degree in computer engineering from UCLA.

An avid hiker, he enjoyed renovating the house on Arbor Dell Road, north of Hill Drive, which he and Sheila had bought shortly before they got married at St. Brendan Church on Third Street in Los Angeles. (This is their wedding photo.)

Sheila, now a Corona-based nurse, couldn’t bear to live in their Eagle Rock home after Ruben’s death. “I’m moving on with my life,” she said, although she has not parted with the Eagle Rock house.

“She doesn’t want to give it up for sentimental reasons,” said her sister-in-law, Cristy Galero, who lives there with her husband—Sheila’s brother—and their family.