Kelly Ann Booms

More than 700 people attended the weekend memorial service for Kelly Ann Booms in her parents’ hometown of Blue Ash, Ohio. After the packed service, tables, chairs, and food--many gifts of food--appeared at the Booms’ home. Hundreds of people followed.

“We were overwhelmed. There were people I didn’t even know who were there,” said Richard L. Booms Sr., Kelly Ann’s father. “It’s just amazing what people are doing for us. You don’t even ask--things you don’t even think of--they’re just done.”

Booms, a 24-year-old employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston, was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, bound for California on a four-week assignment in Long Beach..

As the community rallied around the Booms family into the evening, friends from Kelly Ann’s childhood in Michigan and high school years in Australia remembered her as vivacious, strong-willed and caring.

At her parents’ home, the procession of well-wishers didn’t end until after midnight.