"I bought the Bible in Texas about 12 years ago for her as a Christmas gift, just before we got married. She read it every day. About a year ago, she decided she wanted to read the whole thing, from front to back, and she was almost through. Then, that day came. She believed in God. She prayed every day. She would read the Bible at night in her chair upstairs before she went to bed. Then she would read it again in the morning. It's almost as if she was preparing herself to meet God." -- Kenneth Foster, husband

Profile:

Sandra Foster, 41, may be already one of the most well-known victims of the attack on the Pentagon, in part because her husband, Kenneth Foster, 48, kept a 44-hour vigil after American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the building.

Kenneth Foster began working anonymously next to rescuers minutes after the plane hit. His vigil over the burning remains of what was once his wife's third-floor office were chronicled in Thursday's Washington Post.

Foster finally was asked to leave and decamped to a nearby hotel, where many families of victims are staying. He said yesterday that he had nothing more to say.

Last week, Foster said: "Everyone should have a wife like I have. She's an angel."

His wife -- still listed as unaccounted for -- had worked at the Pentagon for almost 25 years. She started while she was in high school, when she was hired as a civilian by the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Her neighbors recalled Sandra Foster as quiet and sweet, and said that she and her husband, a retired Army soldier who works for the Army as a civilian, frequently tended their yard together in the Kirby Woods neighborhood in Clinton. She was an avid Redskins fan and he an avid Cowboys fan, and the two frequently teased each other about their football rivalry.

"She was just a sweetheart," said neighbor Sandra Stewart, 45. "She loved kids."

Sandra Foster was close to her husband's two older sons, Stewart said.

On the day of the explosion, the Fosters were scheduled to attend a training session for prospective parents. They were hoping to adopt a baby girl.

-- Annie Gowen and Arthur Santana

Source: The Washington Post, AP and washingtonpost.com

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