9-11 To Honor and Remember

B. Goldman

I was walking into the Morrill Memorial Library when the first plane struck. I remember saying to the person who told me, "Well, if another plane strikes a tower, we are being attacked." The images are still surreal to me. Later that morning I was teaching in the Drama Room on the third floor of the Peabody Building. We all had our televisions turned on, and we watched in disbelief as the first tower collapsed. It was difficult to speak  about what we were witnessing. It was only months later that a student confided in me that he knew a person working in the first tower and didn't know if he was watching his friend die. And, to my horror and sadness, his friend did die.

                  ********************************************************************************************

M. Gonzalez

On 9/11/01, I had just entered the Adult Literacy Resource Institute where I worked and saw my colleague Steve. Usually very calm and collected, he was visibly shaken and told me that “we had been attacked.” “By whom?” I asked. “We don’t know yet, but they have crashed a plane into New York,” he said. We rushed upstairs where everyone else had already gathered for our weekly staff meeting. That's how I know it was on a Tuesday. We had a large television that was hooked up to a VCR. Somebody rigged it up with a coat hanger, and we could get a grainy picture of the scene in New York. We watched live as the second plane crashed into the tower. We couldn’t believe it. Shortly thereafter, our Director let us go home. All that I remember about driving to my son’s school was how beautiful the weather was. It was brilliantly sunny, just a bit cool, perfect fall weather. Little did I know at mid-morning  the complete horror of that day and its aftermath.

                  **********************************************************************************************

T. Noyes

Just wanted to share these photos of my closest cousin Kevin Shea. First picture on him 3 days buried under the ruble until the rescuers found him. We thought we had lost him because there was no word for four days because he was mentally unresponsive, with many bones crushed along with head trauma and hearing loss. He was the only fire fighter to survive from his company.
 
2nd picture was 14 years later this summer in Long Island so grateful to have him alive each and every day.

             ********************************************************************************************************

M. Tilley

I am originally a New Yorker (from Long Island) with very close ties to the city. My dad had always worked in Manhattan, and at the time of 9/11/2001, so did my older brother, David. In fact, David, the quintessential New York businessman was working right across the street when the attack occurred. He looked out an office window and saw people jumping to their deaths. It was slightly later that I also found out that my sister-in-law, Ellen, had been returning something to a Gap right in the shopping area of the World Trade Center when panic had ensued that morning. David and Ellen were among the lucky ones though, although there were some lost shoes involved and an incredibly long walk to get back home since the whole city shut down. 

Beyond unfortunately, I grew up with others who were not so lucky. I write now of a boy who I had known since days together in a playpen in my backyard. That boy, who is now a 40 something year old man, lost his younger sister that day. His father had also been working in the building during the attack, but he managed to get out safely. His sister did not make it, as she was on a much higher floor. I think of them...the boy I had known and this 20 something year old young woman at the time who was just finishing up her last days in the business world so that she could follow her dreams of becoming a teacher. She had always had a passion for books and her legacy lives on in the form of a wonderful foundation that supports and promotes literacy. I applaud her loving family for keeping her spirit alive! z`I have to admit, I hesitated to tell my story, but maybe it is one of many that should be shared today.

             **************************************************************************************************************