Obituaries

  Dora Menchaca

Dora Menchaca, 45, of Santa Monica, died on American Airlines
Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

Cynthia Tomayo, a ’97 UCLA graduate who is a distant
relative of Menchaca, wants the UCLA community to know, “A
fellow Bruin was on one of the planes.”

Menchaca, the associate director of clinical research for the
biotech firm Amgen Inc., earned her Ph.D. at the School of Public
Health in 1986. According to Tomayo, Menchaca considered it one of
her greatest achievements.

“My cousin was very proud of that degree,” Tomayo
said.

Menchaca, mother to a 4-year-old son and an 18-year-old
daughter, walked in the Los Angeles Marathon the past two years.
She is survived by her children and husband Earl Dorsey, also a
UCLA alumnus.

“She was a devoted mother,” said daughter Imani
Dorsey.

  Christopher Newton

Christopher Newton, 38, of Anaheim, was a passenger on American
Airlines Flight 77, which was on its way to Los Angeles from
Washington when it crashed into the Pentagon, killing all on
board.

He earned his M.B.A. from the Anderson School Executive Program
in 1998.

He was on his way back to Orange County to retrieve his
family’s yellow Labrador, who had been left behind until the
family could settle into their new home in Arlington, Va.

Newton was an executive for Work Life Benefits of Cypress, which
was relocating to the East Coast. He decided to move his family
there so he wouldn’t be away from home so much.

“He was happy to do less flying,” said Sandy Haines,
a friend. “He was not happy to be in a million-miles club. He
once joked with me that he had enough (frequent-flier) miles to
bump the pilot.”

Church members said Newton was a devoted family man, Little
League coach and church Cub Scout leader. He was an avid golfer and
fitness buff who cut an impressive figure at 6-foot-1. He often
wore snappy, color-coordinated outfits.

Newton is survived by his parents, Michael and Barbara Newton of
Lakewood, wife Amy, and children Michael, 10, and Sarah, 7.

  Ruben Ornedo

Ruben Ornedo, 39, of Los Angeles, was on American Airlines
Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon.

Born in the Philippines, Ornedo graduated from UCLA in 1984 with
a bachelor’s degree from the School of Engineering.

Ornedo was a propulsion engineer for Boeing. He was scheduled to
board a plane next week, but a lull in an extended business trip in
Washington, D.C. gave him an opportunity to return home for a few
days. He wanted to see his wife of three months, Sheila, who is
pregnant.

“He thought it was worth the trip just to see her,”
said his brother, Dr. Eduardo Ornedo of Los Angeles.

Ornedo, who loved to travel, and his wife had just bought a
house in the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles. One of
Ornedo’s favorite hobbies was going to Home Depot, said his
brother.