story458.xml

story458.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-04-24

I am a flight attendant for United Airlines and have been one for almost 12 years now. I am based in Las Vegas, NV and was working the all-nighter into DC on September 10th arriving at around 6a.m. September 11th. Being exhausted after getting to my hotel room I went to bed with plans of sleeping the day away. Around 1p.m. I was awakened by the phone ringing by my bed. My husband was on the other end telling me he had been trying to reach me all morning but the phone lines were jammed. In my haze to wake up I could hear the tension in his voice and asked if the kids were o.k. and of course they were. Then I asked that one question "what's wrong?" He told me to turn on my T.V., that planes had crashed into the WTC and no one had heard a word from my sister Cathy who worked in Tower 2 on the 92nd floor. As I stared in disbelief at the horror on my T.V., I thought, maybe she's not there, maybe she's out of town on business, but why wouldn't she call anyone to let them know she was alright? A million and one things running thru my head so I immediately hang up with my husband and start contacting my family trying to get some answers and of course no one knows anything but does confirm that she was at work that morning. My sister had just turned 37 a couple of weeks before September 11th and had only lived in New York for a year and a half. As I watched Tower 2 come down over and over again, I knew she was gone. And to add to my pain, it was the United Airlines plane that had hit her building! Not only had I lost a member of my family, but also members of my other family at United Airlines. It was all so unbelievable to me, that still to this day it is hard to imagine. They did make a DNA match on my sister and actually found her purse in the rubble that they sent to my mother in Ohio. It was hard for me to return to work and the job that I have loved for almost 12 years and every time I step on a plane I think of all that was lost on that awful day in September. And all I can do is hope and pray for a better world for my children and their children and all of mankind. Peace and love to everyone in this world. My name is Mary Daddario and Cathy Salter was my sister, the 4th of six children born to Eleanor and the late Henry Salter of Wellsville, Ohio. Thanks for reading my story.