Susan Saint James’ Son Said ‘I’m Scared’ before Death at 14 – She Couldn’t Bear to Touch His Clothes for Years

Susan Saint James’s marriage nearly fell apart, but she and her husband salvaged it before she retired from acting to be a present mother. Then she lost her youngest son in a plane crash before finding happiness again with her grandchildren.

Susan Saint James is well known for her role as Sally McMillan in “McMillan and Wife,” which aired from 1971 until 1977. She then moved on and made a name for herself as Kate in the 1980s sitcom “Kate & Allie.”

In her personal life, Saint James was a mother to four children whom she lived with in Litchfield, Connecticut. The actress had to perform a balancing act between her family and her work as she taped the show in New York City.

The star wrongly believed she was doing okay as she was the type of person who could ask for more on her plate while already juggling too much. However, her body wasn’t coping with all the stress; it showed physically when she started having illnesses like kidney stones.

“Kate & Allie” concluded in 1989, leading Saint James to retire from her budding career to be a full-time mother. Her retirement came with her adding another child, Charlie, whom she shared with her husband, Dick Ebersol, with the celebrity laughing while recalling:

“Whenever I took a break, I got pregnant.”

However, by November 2002, the former actress had made her personal life her main focus. In March 2002, she filed for divorce from Ebersol, her husband of 21 years, but reconciled with him towards the end of the year.

The “McMillan and Wife” star revealed how they had a second chance and that she was “happier,” which was a good sign. Sadly, tragedy was approaching, with Saint James losing someone near her.

Days before their November 28, 2004 flight Saint James and her family came together in Los Angeles, California, to celebrate Thanksgiving and even immortalized the occasion with a photo. Her three sons, Charlie, Willie, and Teddy, joined the star and her husband.

Harmony and Sunshine, Saint James’ son and daughter from a previous marriage, were also there. Then she, Teddy, Charlie, and her husband took a private jet flight from California and landed in a small Colorado airport.

There the former actress was left behind as the family continued east; however, the plane crashed while flying over 100 miles an hour minutes after taking off. The aircraft stopped at the edge of a 60-foot cliff before Charlie saw part of his father’s hair sticking out from some rubble.

The boy dug Ebersol out and pulled him safely away from the wreckage before trying to find his little brother. Sadly, before Teddy could be located, the plane exploded, and two days later, the little boy’s body was found underneath the plane crash that also took the lives of two crew members.

During a “The Oprah Winfrey Show” 2006 appearance, Saint James’ husband recalled his sons saying, “‘Dad, I’m scared,'” as his last words. Ebersol said the words weren’t shared in a petrified way but to pass the issue on to his father so he could resolve it.

The star said her late son was a philosopher who started his eighth-grade graduation speech with “an old saying” he’d created, “I follow, therefore I lead.” The last line of his remarks saw him urging people to note that the finishing line was only the start of a new race.

Teddy’s mother said he became pretty mature at a young age. Saint James illustrated this by sharing a story where her son suddenly became fascinated by baseball, having never shown interest in sports.

When asked why the interest, the 14-year-old said he wished to find a way to become closer to his father and thought baseball would give him that. The former actress found it uncanny that a teenager would try to bridge the gap between him and his father when parents usually did the reaching out.

Saint James and Ebersol struggled with the grief of losing their youngest child. However, their other children held space for them, Teddy’s memory is still honored years later, and the former actress found peace.

During their family interview with Oprah Winfrey, Saint James confessed to never having touched Teddy’s clothes for years after his death. The star wiped away tears as she admitted she couldn’t move his things.

The family tried focusing on Teddy’s life instead of his death to cope. Willie noted how no one would wish to be remembered as a “tragic loss” and that people’s lives had to be celebrated, and the family treasured the written work Teddy left behind.

One was a 37-page autobiography the late teenager had written in the eighth grade. More prose was found on his computer, including a story based on a family ski vacation they once took.

In the story, Teddy recalled Willie’s skis swooshing as if he “was pouring a bucket of love all over [me]” while helping him down a mountain. The late boy’s first death anniversary was a challenging but meaningful time for his family, with Ebersol saying:

“[The children] chose to come home.”

Saint James had suggested they go somewhere else for the anniversary, but their children insisted on going home. Teddy’s older siblings still kept his memory alive, as seen on December 22, 2015, when Charlie shared an Instagram photo of him and someone else during a skiing trip, standing by a sign.

That same month and year, Saint James shared a Twitter image of herself snuggling a newborn baby girl while attending to an older child.

He revealed that the Telluride Ski Resort renamed the run to their house “Teddy’s Way” eleven years after the boy died in his honor. The day Charlie uploaded the image, Saint James went by the sign to pay her tribute and show their gratitude.

Years before, on December 31, 2019, the former actress uploaded an Instagram photo of herself bonding with one of her grandchildren. Despite never getting over her son’s death, Saint James had found a way to move on, revealing how “Happiness is Grandchild.”

For that year’s Valentine’s Day, she shared a picture of her and her husband and noted how they’d been together for 38 years, had five children and six grandchildren, which was “bliss.” In July 2021, she uploaded a photo of the twelfth baby in their family snuggled in the basket she made for her first one in 1972.

That same month and year, Saint James shared a Twitter image of herself snuggling a newborn baby girl while attending to an older child. Ebersol’s wife said her seventh grandchild was meeting her older sister for the first time.