Metro Train Operator Hailed As Hero During Memorial

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Metro employees left their trains and buses parked and filled the Temple of Praise Church in Southeast to honor one of their own. Family also filled the pews and choked back tears as Jeanice McMillan's only child, Jordan, flanked by his two uncles spoke of her love.

"She was just there for everything for me," McMillan said. "Without her, I don't know where I'd be right now."

Whether he meant to or not, it was Metro General Manager John Catoe who, perhaps, gave those in the crowd their first real sense of peace since the crash.

Catoe said, "I'm here to say that on Monday, when this terrible accident happened, she was there not only doing her job, but I can say it will ultimately be shown she took an act that saved many lives. She didn't shy away from that opportunity."

The crowd jumped to its feet as Catoe called McMillan a hero and said that's how Metro would remember her.

Bishop Glen Staples said, "She rode the brakes all the way to heaven. "

Her coworkers agreed.

"She did everything she could to save herself and everyone else," Kimberly Denton said.

Julian Smith summed it up this way.

"She's a hero, we all are."

McMillan's funeral will be in Buffalo, New York.