By JOSEPH KELLARD
Doug and Betty Haviland of Ames, Iowa, watched the TV replays in disbelief last Saturday after their niece, 41-year-old Laurel Clark, was one of the seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Columbia incinerated 200,000 feet up in the Texas sky. Sixteen months earlier, the couple had watched the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center while their son, Tim Haviland of Oceanside, was trapped on the 96th floor.
"Life brings hurt and tragedy," said Rev. Haviland, a 76-year-old retired Episcopal minister, at a press conference held at a home in Ames on Saturday. ". . . But the public nature of these events adds a different dimension."
The Havilands learned of the shuttle disaster early Saturday morning from TV news and family members. "We knew [Laurel] was due to come down [Saturday] morning," Betty, 73, said about the shuttle's scheduled landing at Cape Canaveral, Fla. "We turned on CNN to see if they had any information, then our son, Bruce, called and said [NASA] had lost contact [with the shuttle]."
Watching the debris falling from the shuttle reminded the Havilands of watching the destruction of the World Trade Center. "As soon as [we] saw that debris field, it became pretty clear what had happened," Betty said. "We have the sense of deja vu, as you can imagine."
Amy Haviland of Oceanside, Tim's wife, suffered the double tragedy on Sept. 11 of losing both her husband and her brother, Robert Spear.
Tim, who was 41, moved to New York in 1997 after meeting Amy through an Internet matchmaking Web site. At the time of his death, Tim was a vice-president and project manager for the insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan. Spear, 30, an Oceanside native and a firefighter with Engine Co. 50/Ladder 19 in the South Bronx, was with Engine Co. 26 in mid-Manhattan on that infamous day, doing his year-long rotation from his original company.
Haviland and Clark were "very close," said Irene Spear, Amy's mother. Haviland encouraged Clark's determination to go into space after she applied to be an astronaut in 1996, after working her way through medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by joining the Navy, Betty Haviland said. Tim, Amy and their two children, Jesse and Nicholas, were invited to attend the launch of the space shuttle.
"Tim had wanted to go," Betty Haviland said. "But of course, 9/11 got rid of that idea."
Clark's husband, Jonathan Clark, her sister, Lynne Salton, and her 8-year-old son attended the launch.
Astronaut Clark was born in Ames while her father was studying at Iowa State University. When she was 2, her family moved to Racine, Wis., which she considered her hometown. At the time of her death, Clark lived with her husband and son in Houston.
Last Friday, Clark e-mailed her family from the space shuttle. The message began: "Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth. The perspective is truly awe-inspiring."
"I feel blessed that we were able to hear from her just yesterday," Betty said on Saturday. "We know she died with a sense of mission."
