Widow of Canadian 9/11 victim channels grief by working for peace

Loretta Filipov could have spent the decade since she lost her husband, Al, in the Sept. 11 terror attacks nurturing her grief and seeking retribution for her loss.

Instead, the widow of the Regina-born aerospace consultant has channelled it into a quest for peace.

Al Filipov, who was raised in Windsor, Ont., was living with his wife in Concord, Mass., retired but at age 70 still doing some consulting work. He was travelling to Los Angeles on business when he made a last-minute change so he could get home sooner for the couple's wedding anniversary Sept. 14.

It put him aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which took off that morning from Boston's Logan Airport and, with hijackers at the controls, flew into the World Trade Center's North Tower. All that was found of Filipov was a piece of bone.

"I have a wonderful family," Loretta Filipov told the Toronto Star. "I live in a good community and I have a wonderful church community where both of us were members, and so they sustained me."

Al Filipov was a deacon of his church, a Boy Scout leader and Little League coach. He would not have countenanced revenge or retaliatory war in his name, his widow said.

Instead, she's become a peace activist. She has organized the annual Al Filipov Peace and Justice Forum at their church, the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord. It aims to bring leaders on the subjects of justice, international piece and related issues to speak to the congregation on or around the Sept. 11 anniversary. This year it's scheduled for Sept. 14.

"It would have been our 54th anniversary," said Loretta Filipov.

She has also been active in the Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization that advocates non-violent options and actions in the pursuit of justice.

"That has been a sustaining factor, because everybody's just like me," she said. "We all lost someone on Sept. 11 and . . . we went out in the world to turn our grief into actions for peace."

(Photo courtesy of the Al Filipov Peace and Justice Forum)