"The kids picked out the Mom necklace. Lea just turned 14 and Alana is 11. It was a few years back. The 'Mom' was a Mother�s Day present. I gave her the heart. She wore them both a lot. I guess it was fortunate that she didn�t have them on that day, so we have them now." -- Shane McKenzie, her former husband

Profile:

Molly and Shane McKenzie had been separated about a year but still were close. They helped their daughters do homework, took trips to the beach together and celebrated their anniversary.

They also had plans to join a Dale City gym near their homes, and the two exchanged a few calls about the logistics shortly before American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

Molly McKenzie, 38, a civilian budget analyst for the Army, was in her first-floor office a few doors from the impact site. She never returned her husband's last call, in which he asked if she had heard about the World Trade Center catastrophe.

Shane McKenzie spent the last few days helping their daughters, Lea, 13, and Alana, 10, decorate their home with red, white and blue ribbons -- on the mailbox, the car radio antennas, the basketball net and the cherry tree.

He spoke of what he considered his wife's selfless motherhood. "She lived for her children and would do anything for her children," he said as the two girls played in the front yard.

-- Adam Bernstein

Source: The Washington Post, AP and washingtonpost.com

The profiles in this feature were written in the months following Sept. 11, 2001.