Ice skater Brielle Beyer (left), Justyna Beyer, Brielle Beyer and Andy Beyer. Photo:

Andy Beyer

The birthday decorations are still up from Brielle Beyer’s 12th birthday sleepover. Her mother Justyna strung fairy lights on individual tents at their Aldie, Va. home and decorated them with balloon friendship bracelets. Her father Andy popped buckets of popcorn for the girls before taking Brielle’s little brother to a Washington Capitals game.

“My wife created golden memories with Brielle — our hope was if you give that to your kids, they can draw on it later when they’re an adult having a tough time. They can just know how loved they were and they can just draw on these special times when they go through hard times,” Andy Beyer tells PEOPLE. “I’m real sad that she doesn’t get to do that, but I have no doubt that my daughter knew that she was unconditionally and wholeheartedly loved by both of us.”

Andy’s wife Justyna Beyer, 42, and daughter Brielle Beyer, 12, were among the 67 people killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29.

Tents set up by Justyna Beyer for daughter Brielle Beyer’s birthday sleepover. Andy Beyer

“She was a joyful kid — and we were just so lucky to have her,” he says. “My wife was a devoted and loving mother.”

Andy Beyer met Justyna in 2001. He grew up in Middletown, Conn. When she was 9, Justyna moved from Poland to New Britain, Conn., 13 miles from her future husband.

When he was a college student, high school friends introduced him to Justyna. “We had this awesome first date,” Andy recalls. “She met my parents right away.”

They got married July 17, 2010 – they planned to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary by taking a family cruise this summer.

“She was my soulmate in so many ways,” he says.”I can be pretty analytical. She brought passion and emotion to everything with our family. She was the one that knew how to make every event special.”

His wife was a registered nurse who worked night shifts in the emergency room until their first child came.

Brielle Magdalena Beyer was born Jan. 18, 2013.

“I loved her the moment I met her,” he remembers. “They handed her to me and we just stared at each other. I fell in love with her immediately.”

Brielle, Kailen, Andy and Justyna Beyer. Andy Beyer

Brielle was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer, when she was just four months old. She had two major surgeries as an infant. Still, Andy remembers her as a precocious, smiley baby, who talked in full sentences before she was 2 and read chapter books by age 3.

“She was bright and found joy in the littlest moments of life,” Beyer says. “She was a gift, a blessing, everything I could have asked for in a daughter.”

Brielle began ice skating with her parents when she was 18 months old. Her father played ice hockey and her mother watched ice skating on TV. “My wife appreciated everything beautiful – and she thought that was the most beautiful sport,” he says. “When my daughter was born, she said, ‘I think she’s special. I think she’s meant to do this.’ ”

She began group skating lessons when she was 4, then quickly progressed to private lessons.

“Figure skating is tough,” Andy says. “But she had a gift.”

Her ice skating friends at the rink became her second family. “It was her happy place,” he says.

Brielle Beyer celebrate a personal best skating routine in 2024. Andy Beyer

Andy, a computer programmer, recently took a new position working for a green energy company so he could work remotely at the ice skating rink with his daughter and after school at his 6-year-old son’s ice hockey practice. “So both kids knew they were supported by both parents,” Andy explained.

On the weekends, the tween made breakfast for herself and her little brother. Then she and 6-year-old Kallen would watch Bluey and play with stuffed animals.

Skating in the Olympics was her dream, he says. But it wasn’t an unrealistic goal, he says. “It was attainable,” he says.

She also wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up.

“One thing she was good at was getting you to say yes,” he says. “You couldn’t be mad at her too, because she could back it up in a way that just made sense. Even though she’s a kid and you knew you shouldn’t give in, you just had to give in to her because she did it with a smile and she did it with a good argument.”

Brielle Beyer FaceTiming her father Andy Beyer from an ince skating event. Andy Beyer

He drove his wife and daughter to the airport before they left for Kansas for a special development camp for up-and-coming skaters. They texted and talked via FaceTime the entire trip.

Justyna and Brielle called before they left for the airport, and texted while they were on the return flight.

His wife texted Andy that she was given a free glass of wine; he now believes it must’ve been given to her by flight attendant Ian Epstein.

The last texts Andy received said that they were landing, love you, see you soon.

“I was looking forward to giving them that hug, because they were gone for six days and I missed them so much,” he says.

Andy was already at the airport and waiting in the cell phone lot. He always drove Justyna and Brielle to the airport and picked them up. Even though it was past Kallen’s bedtime, the 6-year-old was with him.

“He wanted to see mom,” Beyer says. Kallen wanted a hug, too.

Tracking the flight on the airline app, Andy saw Flight 3542 was actually landing a little bit early. “They had a tailwind or something,” he recalls.

The app said the plane landed, but his text messages to his wife, instead of being green, were suddenly blue.

He thought maybe they turned off their phones for landing. Then he saw the fire trucks.

“At that point I already knew,” he says.

Brielle Beyer winning a skating award in front of a flower wall designed by Justyna Beyer. Andy Beyer

Andy has been surrounded by friends and family since the crash. Friends who have been telecommuting made his house their home office so he won’t be alone. His parents dropped everything and drove down from Virginia to Connecticut.

“They didn’t even take their medicines or clothes or anything,” he says of Brielle and Kallen’s grandparents. “They’ve been staying here. They’ve been a lifeline.”

Thursday was his son’s first day back to school. While Kallen was there, Andy visited cemeteries looking for a final resting place for his beloved wife and daughter.

Justyna, Brielle and Andy Beyer. Andy Beyer

A GoFundMe has been established to help pay for their funerals and to allow Andy to spend more time with his grieving son.

He wants people to remember the joy his wife and daughter had.

“There’s nothing more important in this world than love. And we had a lot of it,” Andy says. “We were really living our dream. It’s really hard to believe that it’s over.”