By Town Crier Staff Report

The aftermath of 9/11 has been particularly hard on families of the victims and the inevitable one-year anniversary brings up the questions some wish would not be asked: What are you doing for 9/11? Are the memories still vivid?

“It’s been on my mind ever since it happened,” said longtime Los Altos resident Yvonne Olson whose son, Ted, is U.S. solicitor general.

Ted Olson’s wife, Barbara, was killed in the terrorist-hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon. Babara Olson was a well-known political commentator and author.

While Olson noted, “It isn’t something we dwell on,” she said, “It’s hard to forget someone you love very much.”

The Olsons moved to Los Altos in 1955. Ted was in the first graduating class of Los Altos High School in 1958.

Yvonne said she was invited to attend memorial ceremonies in Washington, D.C., but will opt instead for a trip to Seattle to visit a friend.

She said traveling to Washington would be “too emotional for me. I don’t want to keep crying.”

However, Olson said she is in favor of communities holding ceremonies paying tribute to 9/11 heroes and victims.

“I do think people need to be reminded of it,” she said.

She particularly appreciates the rekindling of patriotism that 9/11 has inspired. “The idea of patriotism was neglected for many, many years,” Yvonne said.