Nationwide — Jevon Castrillo, an African American man from Fort Pierce, Florida, recently received a letter his late mother, who was a flight attendant, wrote before the 9/11 attacks. The note, kept safe by his kindergarten teacher for more than two decades, reached him 24 years after her death.
In March 2001, Castrillo’s mother, Cee Lee Ross Lyles, wrote a letter praising her young son’s love for reading. At the time, she sent it to his kindergarten teacher, Tammy Thurman, as a way of celebrating his progress.
Just months later, Lyles, a former Fort Pierce police detective who became a flight attendant, was aboard United Flight 93. She died on Sept. 11, 2001, when the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
According to KCTV5, Thurman kept the letter through years of moving between schools in Lee County. Recently, she handed it to Castrillo, now an adult and a new father, along with a class photo from his kindergarten days.
“It’s like a piece of history right here,” Castrillo said, holding the note. He also called it “an ancient artifact,” knowing it carried his mother’s voice from a time before tragedy.
“Very touching. It seems very sweet, and it seems like something she would definitely say,” Castrillo remarked.
Thurman told him, “As a mom, I know you need to see those words from your mom.” She described Lyles as a wonderful woman and reminded Castrillo that he had always been a wonderful student.
Now raising his 3-month-old child, Castrillo said the letter motivates him to keep making his mother proud, just as she had been proud of him then.