If you’ve lived in Gainesville long enough and were old enough to remember such things, you probably know that a Gainesville native was among those killed during the 9/11 attacks 25 years ago.
Edna Stephens, who still has relatives here, was 53 and worked as a budget analyst at the Pentagon. She was at work that fateful day when one of the hijacked planes was flown into the place.
Stephens grew up in Gainesville and graduated from the old E.E. Butler High School in 1966. Not long afterward she moved to Washington, where she began her career with the FBI before joining the Army and later the Department of Defense, spending most of her career working at the Pentagon.
Stephens is honored at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Her family and community continue to remember her life of service and the legacy she left behind