Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, a Michigan couple is marking the anniversary in New York alongside other 9/11 families — still grieving, still advocating, and still demanding justice for the murder of their daughter.
Alicia Titus, 28, was a flight attendant aboard United Airlines Flight 175 when it struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She was one of 42 Michigan residents among the 2,977 people killed that day in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
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Her parents, John and Beverly Titus of Dexter, spoke about Alicia's life, the weight of their loss, and their 25-year pursuit of peace and accountability.
"This is still hard for me to wrap my mind around 25 years later that my child was murdered in that way," Beverly said.
Alicia was John and Beverly's oldest child — an adventurer, a big sister who loved people, travel, and dancing. Her father still smiles at the memories of her earliest years.
"Her nickname when she was little was Boogie because I would dance with her and play," John said. He adds, "Alicia from day one was just an incredible young lady."
In January 2001, Alicia graduated from United's flight school at the top of her class. Eight months later, she was working aboard Flight 175.
Beverly watched the plane strike the South Tower on television, not yet knowing her daughter was onboard. John was at work in Livonia. For hours, the family tried to locate Alicia. Their son delivered the news.
There would be no body to bury. No final goodbye.
Of everything Alicia owned, only two things were ever returned to her family.
"Only thing that we have of Alicia's is her driver's license and her Boston library card that survived... That's all we have," Beverly said.
Alicia's cards were melted and compressed together by the heat. Beverly carries them with her to this day.
John says when you lose a child, there is no such thing as closure — at least not on the terms others might expect.
"If closure means that I have to put her behind me, then no, there's no such thing," John said.
In the face of unimaginable grief, Beverly says choosing revenge would have been the easy answer — but not the right one.
"We can't do the same thing that they have done to us," Beverly said. She adds, "it wasn't going to bring justice, it wasn't gonna bring Alicia back."
Instead, John and Beverly channeled their loss into action. They created the Alicia Titus Memorial Peace Fund, which teaches children in Washtenaw County, Michigan and Champaign County, Ohio about kindness, compassion, and peace.
"That kindness matters, that each and every one of us matter," Beverly said.
But choosing peace never meant giving up on justice. Twenty-five years later, John and Beverly say they are still pushing for accountability — and remain involved in litigation.
"We're still fighting for justice to this day, for those that were responsible and those that funded the terrorists," John said.
Their message carries new urgency as millions of Americans who were not yet born when the towers fell now encounter September 11 only in history books. For John and Beverly, it is family history — and their fear is that as the memory of that day grows more distant, so too will the memory of the pain, loss, and lessons it carried.
"My greatest fear was that we would all fall back into that slumber of everyday living and forget," Beverly said.
Alicia is still alive in her parents' hearts. John keeps a journal she left behind. In it, the 28-year-old wrote words that would go on to reflect her parents' heartbreak.
"Those who have known the greatest happiness have opened themselves to the most gut-wrenching sorrow," John said, reading from the journal.
John and Beverly say they have spent 25 years trying to prove that peace and justice are not opposites — that a family can reject hatred while still demanding accountability for the people who took their daughter from them.
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