Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. It's a time when loved ones remember the good times they had with those family members they lost.

Evelyn Bautista-Miller says she has many fond memories of her dad, Baudilio Bautista Garcia. 

“Dominican rice, the beans, he loved his steak,” said Bautista-Miller standing over a pot of rice in her kitchen. “My dad loved to eat."

Her dad was one of the 260 passengers aboard Flight 587, which was on its way to the Dominican Republic when it crashed shortly after takeoff from JFK airport 20 years ago.

“My twin brother and I shared a birthday with my dad," Bautista-Miller said. "We know that once our birthday comes, unfortunately he’s not here to physically celebrate with us, and his anniversary coming a week after. It gets emotionally hard." 

Her father never got to meet 13 grandchildren born during these past 20 years. But the family keeps his memory alive through photos and countless stories. 

“My dad always loved playing cards, playing with my siblings,” Bautista-Miller recounts while scanning a photo collage. 

Throughout the years Bautista-Miller says the city memorials have been a wonderful way to celebrate his life. 

“It’s just the care that’s taken to really honor those victims and it's so inspirational to family members of the victims,” she shared. “I enjoy going to see the memorial in Queens as well as Washington Heights. I mean, just the renaming of the street."

On the deck in her backyard, she has a copy of that street sign "Flight 587 Way," which co-named West 181st Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Washington Heights, a neighborhood her family has roots in.

This year’s anniversary will be the first for the family without their matriarch. Her mom died in April from COVID-19. 

“Every year my mom always wanted to make it to the memorial,” Bautista-Miller said.  “My mom missed my dad to the point that it was hard because she stayed raising us five children” 

Twenty years ago her mom traveled to the Dominican Republic on a separate flight and was to be joined by her husband later. That, of course, never happened. In the years to follow, keeping the family together was important to her mom, and it’s something Bautista-Miller says she will continue.

“My family was about being family, sticking together and just thinking about the solution instead of just keeping on the problem,” Bautista-Miller shared.  

Using her family as inspiration, she started her own nonprofit group, Tender Steps of New York, which advocates for those with language barriers. The nonprofit has been recognized with many proclamations from the Bronx to Washington Heights. She says she’s following in her dad’s kind and loving footsteps.  

“I know that he would be proud of all my siblings and all of us as we continue to be the best that we can in this world,” Bautista-Miller said.