story1346.xml
Title
story1346.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-08-20
911DA Story: Story
On September 11, 2001, I was at work in the office at Naders Lakeshore Motor Lodge where I am Office Manager. I was conducting my normal morning duties in preparation for taking care of the registered guests and seeing that everything was ready for the new guests who would be checking in that day.
I answered the telephone, as usual, and it was the owner's daughter calling from Denver, Colorado, who asked to speak to her father, who is the owner of the motel. I immediately transferred it to his office where he was at work just through the doorway in his home. It seemed he had barely picked up the telephone when he called "Mary Lou, come look at this".
I stepped through the doorway to see him motion to the television set that he had just turned on as instructed by his daughter. I got there just in time to see the second plane hit, listen to the news reporters, and of course, watch the play back of the video of the first plane to hit the Twin Towers.
There was very little conversation between him and his daughter since she had simply called to make sure we were watching the breaking news. We just stood there with our eyes glued to the TV in disbelief of what we had just witnessed and was fearful of what might have been yet to come.
I will never forget the bone-chilling feeling that came over me as I saw what had happened and knew that this would cause the loss of numerous lives. I just said a prayer for all those people who were totally unaware of any danger about them as their lives were taken from them all too suddenly by the cunning of someone evil.
I also thought of my son who is now a Command Master Chief in the United States Navy, and who has proudly served his country for the past 22 years in the United States Navy. I said a prayer for him and all of his military comrades who would be pressed into high alert to protect all of us. We owe our military, the fire fighters and the clean up crew a special thanks and our gratitude for all they have endured since that fateful day. They are far from being finished with their work of what is necessary to protect our people.
My ultimate prayer is still that our nations will all unite in peace and there will be no more terrorism anywhere.
I answered the telephone, as usual, and it was the owner's daughter calling from Denver, Colorado, who asked to speak to her father, who is the owner of the motel. I immediately transferred it to his office where he was at work just through the doorway in his home. It seemed he had barely picked up the telephone when he called "Mary Lou, come look at this".
I stepped through the doorway to see him motion to the television set that he had just turned on as instructed by his daughter. I got there just in time to see the second plane hit, listen to the news reporters, and of course, watch the play back of the video of the first plane to hit the Twin Towers.
There was very little conversation between him and his daughter since she had simply called to make sure we were watching the breaking news. We just stood there with our eyes glued to the TV in disbelief of what we had just witnessed and was fearful of what might have been yet to come.
I will never forget the bone-chilling feeling that came over me as I saw what had happened and knew that this would cause the loss of numerous lives. I just said a prayer for all those people who were totally unaware of any danger about them as their lives were taken from them all too suddenly by the cunning of someone evil.
I also thought of my son who is now a Command Master Chief in the United States Navy, and who has proudly served his country for the past 22 years in the United States Navy. I said a prayer for him and all of his military comrades who would be pressed into high alert to protect all of us. We owe our military, the fire fighters and the clean up crew a special thanks and our gratitude for all they have endured since that fateful day. They are far from being finished with their work of what is necessary to protect our people.
My ultimate prayer is still that our nations will all unite in peace and there will be no more terrorism anywhere.
Collection
Citation
“story1346.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 15, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/17252.