nmah4146.xml
Title
nmah4146.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
NMAH Story: Story
In May 2001 my husband Zaden, myself, and our good friend and collegue Phillis began travelling from our home in Chicago to New York each week to our new corporate offices in One World Trade Center. We worked there from May through September 11, 2001. On September 9, Zaden and Phyllis and I flew from Chicago to NYC just like every other Sunday in preparation for work on Monday. Late Monday the 10th, Zaden left World Trade One, rented a car in Battery Park, and drove to Rhode Island for client meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Phyllis and I, along with our other good friend Carolyn met for breakfast Tuesday morning September 11th at our hotel before work. For some reason we lingered over breakfast and didnt leave for work (about 1 and 1/2 blocks away) until 8:35am.
Normally Zaden and I would have gone to The Mall in the World Trade Center to get coffee before going through security and up to the 19th floor. Because we were late and Zaden wasnt with us, we just went directly to work. It probably saved our lives.
Phyllis, Carolyn, and I were just unpacking and plugging in our laptops when we felt the entire building shake, pause, and then shake again. My first thought (after climbing out from under my desk where I was trying to plug in my laptop) was earthquake. It was clear that we needed to leave the building.
As I began to grab some of the things I had just unpacked, others began moving toward the door. As they opened the door, they realized that smoke was pouring into the hallway from the door on the other side of our floor and they came back into our area. Everyone gathered at the doorway and then we all went out into the hallway to get to the stairwell. In the move to the stairs, Phyllis and I were separated from Carolyn.
The stairwell was filled with the most amazing people. They were calm and orderly and leant a helping hand to those who needed help. The further down we went the more smoke filled the stairwell and those who were able to covered their mouths and noses with their shirts. At one point everyone came to a halt and the people below us indicated that we needed to go back up to the 13th floor to get to an open door. After a few moments of indecision and discussion (No! Go down), people once again began moving down the stairs. . . it was at this point that the firemen began running past us on their way up the stairs.
Although I didnt know it at the time, this was also about the same time that Zaden was trying to get through to me on my cell phone (which didnt work in the stairwell). Our friend and collegue, Frank, in Rhode Island had been notified of the news reports that a small two-engine plane had hit the WTC. Frank came in to their meeting and got Zaden and two of our other coworkers, took them out of the meeting and told them what he had heard. At that point, no one really knew what was going on but they were trying to find out.
As the firemen passed us on the stairwell they told us to continue down even though the smoke was much worse. The sprinklers had come on and the water began to come down on us and to pool on the landings before waterfalling down the stairs.
As we came out of the stairwell on the ground floor, I didnt recognize where we were. I thought that we had come out in some back hallway until I saw the security turnstyles. That is when I realized that we were in the main lobby. The floor was torn up and there were areas of the floor that were burning. There was debris, glass, and injuries. I later learned that when the first plane hit the building a service elevator cable was cut which caused the elevator car to slam to the first floor filled with jet fuel. The door burst open and that is what caused the destruction and injuries in the lobby.
We were directed out through the Marriott Hotel because of the damage to the front of our building and the falling glass and metal. We passed a horribly burned woman and people who were trying to help her. We were directed through Tall Ships restaurant. Tall Ships had been our normal lunch place and after work gathering place so we knew it well.
As we approached the door a fireman was saying cover your heads, dont look up. As we got closer he began to say Run, keep your head down. We exited onto Liberty Street at the bottom of World Trade Two and just as my foot hit the median in the middle of Liberty street, I heard a plane rev its engine over my head. This was the second plane going into World Trade Two at 9:03am. We ran across West End Avenue and around the corner of the World Financial building.
Phyllis and I were desparately trying to find Carolyn. I was also trying to use my cell phone to call Zaden but I couldnt get through. We went into a dry cleaners and the women behind the counter just handed us her phone. We tried to offer money but she just waved it away. I still couldnt get through to Zaden on his cell and I couldnt for the life of me remember any of the numbers in Rhode Island even though I worked there for two years! So I called my Mom in Seattle and woke her up. I told her that Phyllis and I were out of the building, that the buildings were destroyed, and that we were looking for Carolyn. I asked her to call Zaden and Phyllis husband Tom. Amazingly we were both so calm. It was 6:15am her time and she hadn't even seen the TV yet. She took down the phone numbers and just before we hung up she said "Lisa, just tell me one thing, are you okay?".
Along with many others we went a few blocks down toward the water. It seemed the safest place to go. We continued to look for Carolyn and to call her but we had no luck. All of a sudden Phyllis cell phone rang and it was Carolyns husband Marq. He was in Virginia, watching TV and trying to get in touch with Carolyn. We were able to tell him that we had found someone who had seen her on the ground and so we knew she had gotten out of the building before us. He told us that they were saying on the news that the building was beginning to lean and to get out of there. We began walking along the water until we were forced back up to the street. We were about 5 or 6 blocks away when the first building came down. We stood at the end of the street, with WTC2 crumbling directly in front of us and then came the cloud. I kept thinking it would stop but it just kept coming until it engulfed us and everything turned dark.
Phyllis and I tied ourselves together with the sleeves of my jacket by each looping it through a belt loop so we wouldnt get separated and we continued to head east and north. For those of you who know Phyllis, dont for a second believe her when she says she cant walk very far! Ive seen her calmly descend 19 floors, walk miles, and even climb over cement barriers.
Our original plan was to get to the Eastgate Hotel, our old stomping ground on East 39th between 2nd and 3rd. As we were walking, we heard someone run by and say that they hit the UN (which is close to the Eastgate). Then we passed a van with a radio and heard that the Pentagon had been hit. We decided then that we wouldnt go to the Eastgate, that we needed to get off of Manhattan Island. We had no access to radio or TV and so we still had no idea exactly what was going on but we knew it was bad.
We walked through Battery Park to the FDR in the cloud you have seen on TV, along with thousands of other people toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Almost to the bridge, a wonderful man picked three others and us up and gave us a ride in his blazer. He had a radio and we finally were able to get some idea of what was going on.
We finally made it out to a hotel by JFK airport. It was about Noon or 12:30pm. Phyllis stood in line to get us 78th on the list of people waiting for a hotel room! They had evacuated JFK so they were bringing in busloads of people from JFK with no where to go. While Phyllis stood in that line, I stood in line for the payphone because our cell phones were still not working. I finally got to a phone and got through to Frank who got Zaden. That was the first time I cried. It was so good to hear his voice and to be in a relatively safe place. I dont know if that was the first time that Zaden cried, but I know it was the best silent conversation Ive ever had.
The people that we met that day really were amazing. It makes me proud that there are people like that in this country - I knew that there were, I just didnt know how many of them. The brave people that we came down the stairway with; the firemen who ran up the stairs as we came down; the people on the street who stopped to help those who had fallen; the woman at the dry cleaners who gave us her phone to use; the laundry truck driver who threw up the back of his truck and stood in the cloud to hand out towels and linen napkins to people to cover their nose and mouth so we could breathe; Hiam, who picked up five strangers in NYC and drove us all somewhere safe; and then there was Ellenis. Ellenis was standing at the pay phone next to us. She saw Phyllis and I break down when we finally were able to reach our husbands, she saw that among all the displaced people at the hotel from JFK that we were covered in dirt and white ash. She began to talk with us and learned that we had escaped from the World Trade Center. She took us up to her room. She and her sister-in-law Danielle had a rental car and had decided to drive to L.A. rather than try to fly. They sat us down and gave us something to drink while they packed their belongings and they gave us their hotel room. Ellenis would not go down to the front desk with us to change the room to our name and our credit card because she was afraid that we would lose the room to one of the other 77 people on the list in front of us. She gave us contact numbers to reach her in L.A. as well as phone numbers for her brothers. She gave us her room on her credit card and said, well make it up later.
You cant imagine what the gift of that hotel room meant to Phyllis and I. We had a place to sit, a bathroom, a TV to figure out what was happening, and most of all, a phone we could use to call out and people could call us. Pretty simple items that really were about the very best gift Ive ever received.
Because we finally had a phone we were able to find out from Zaden and Marq that they had been in touch with Carolyn, she was safe and had gotten to the Eastgate. Zaden was able to call my Mom and Dad and tell them we were safe. My Mom knew that we had gotten out of the building but she also knew we were looking for Carolyn; then she saw the building collapse and didnt hear from me for another 3 1/2 hours.
Throughout our morning, Zaden was going through the other side of the trauma. In some ways Im glad that I was in my shoes (flats that day by the way!) rather than his. I had to concentrate on figuring out what to do and where to go the whole time while he had silence and not knowing what was happening. Zaden wasnt able to get to a TV until later in the morning. He stood in Finnigans in Providence, Rhode Island and couldnt believe what he was seeing on TV. Our friends in Rhode Island supported him. They notified him as soon as they heard that something had happened and they stood with him while he watched it on TV. They actually saw Carolyn walking down the FDR while they were watching the TV so they knew she was okay.
Zaden became the point of contact for everyone and called our families to keep them updated and to get updated. Our families and friends had no way of knowing that Zaden was not in the WTC with us and had a very scary time until they were able to hear from him. He and Marq were the connection between me and Phyllis and Carolyn. They coordinated on how to get us out of NYC.
Marq began driving up from Virginia and Zaden was able to drive from Rhode Island. One way or the other, they were going to get the three of us out of there! Zaden got within about 10 blocks of our hotel (they had blocked the roads). Phyllis and I walked out to meet him the next morning (Wednesday). Marq drove to New Jersey and Carolyn was able to get a train out of the city to meet him.
After a stop in New Jersey to see Carolyn with our own eyes, Zaden drove us home (in the stolen Hertz car) to Chicago and Marq drove Carolyn home to Nashville. We got Phyllis home to her husband Tom in Arlington Heights, Illinos, on Thursday evening.
Every person has their story from that day, Im thankful that ours turned out the way it did. We were all so very lucky.
Normally Zaden and I would have gone to The Mall in the World Trade Center to get coffee before going through security and up to the 19th floor. Because we were late and Zaden wasnt with us, we just went directly to work. It probably saved our lives.
Phyllis, Carolyn, and I were just unpacking and plugging in our laptops when we felt the entire building shake, pause, and then shake again. My first thought (after climbing out from under my desk where I was trying to plug in my laptop) was earthquake. It was clear that we needed to leave the building.
As I began to grab some of the things I had just unpacked, others began moving toward the door. As they opened the door, they realized that smoke was pouring into the hallway from the door on the other side of our floor and they came back into our area. Everyone gathered at the doorway and then we all went out into the hallway to get to the stairwell. In the move to the stairs, Phyllis and I were separated from Carolyn.
The stairwell was filled with the most amazing people. They were calm and orderly and leant a helping hand to those who needed help. The further down we went the more smoke filled the stairwell and those who were able to covered their mouths and noses with their shirts. At one point everyone came to a halt and the people below us indicated that we needed to go back up to the 13th floor to get to an open door. After a few moments of indecision and discussion (No! Go down), people once again began moving down the stairs. . . it was at this point that the firemen began running past us on their way up the stairs.
Although I didnt know it at the time, this was also about the same time that Zaden was trying to get through to me on my cell phone (which didnt work in the stairwell). Our friend and collegue, Frank, in Rhode Island had been notified of the news reports that a small two-engine plane had hit the WTC. Frank came in to their meeting and got Zaden and two of our other coworkers, took them out of the meeting and told them what he had heard. At that point, no one really knew what was going on but they were trying to find out.
As the firemen passed us on the stairwell they told us to continue down even though the smoke was much worse. The sprinklers had come on and the water began to come down on us and to pool on the landings before waterfalling down the stairs.
As we came out of the stairwell on the ground floor, I didnt recognize where we were. I thought that we had come out in some back hallway until I saw the security turnstyles. That is when I realized that we were in the main lobby. The floor was torn up and there were areas of the floor that were burning. There was debris, glass, and injuries. I later learned that when the first plane hit the building a service elevator cable was cut which caused the elevator car to slam to the first floor filled with jet fuel. The door burst open and that is what caused the destruction and injuries in the lobby.
We were directed out through the Marriott Hotel because of the damage to the front of our building and the falling glass and metal. We passed a horribly burned woman and people who were trying to help her. We were directed through Tall Ships restaurant. Tall Ships had been our normal lunch place and after work gathering place so we knew it well.
As we approached the door a fireman was saying cover your heads, dont look up. As we got closer he began to say Run, keep your head down. We exited onto Liberty Street at the bottom of World Trade Two and just as my foot hit the median in the middle of Liberty street, I heard a plane rev its engine over my head. This was the second plane going into World Trade Two at 9:03am. We ran across West End Avenue and around the corner of the World Financial building.
Phyllis and I were desparately trying to find Carolyn. I was also trying to use my cell phone to call Zaden but I couldnt get through. We went into a dry cleaners and the women behind the counter just handed us her phone. We tried to offer money but she just waved it away. I still couldnt get through to Zaden on his cell and I couldnt for the life of me remember any of the numbers in Rhode Island even though I worked there for two years! So I called my Mom in Seattle and woke her up. I told her that Phyllis and I were out of the building, that the buildings were destroyed, and that we were looking for Carolyn. I asked her to call Zaden and Phyllis husband Tom. Amazingly we were both so calm. It was 6:15am her time and she hadn't even seen the TV yet. She took down the phone numbers and just before we hung up she said "Lisa, just tell me one thing, are you okay?".
Along with many others we went a few blocks down toward the water. It seemed the safest place to go. We continued to look for Carolyn and to call her but we had no luck. All of a sudden Phyllis cell phone rang and it was Carolyns husband Marq. He was in Virginia, watching TV and trying to get in touch with Carolyn. We were able to tell him that we had found someone who had seen her on the ground and so we knew she had gotten out of the building before us. He told us that they were saying on the news that the building was beginning to lean and to get out of there. We began walking along the water until we were forced back up to the street. We were about 5 or 6 blocks away when the first building came down. We stood at the end of the street, with WTC2 crumbling directly in front of us and then came the cloud. I kept thinking it would stop but it just kept coming until it engulfed us and everything turned dark.
Phyllis and I tied ourselves together with the sleeves of my jacket by each looping it through a belt loop so we wouldnt get separated and we continued to head east and north. For those of you who know Phyllis, dont for a second believe her when she says she cant walk very far! Ive seen her calmly descend 19 floors, walk miles, and even climb over cement barriers.
Our original plan was to get to the Eastgate Hotel, our old stomping ground on East 39th between 2nd and 3rd. As we were walking, we heard someone run by and say that they hit the UN (which is close to the Eastgate). Then we passed a van with a radio and heard that the Pentagon had been hit. We decided then that we wouldnt go to the Eastgate, that we needed to get off of Manhattan Island. We had no access to radio or TV and so we still had no idea exactly what was going on but we knew it was bad.
We walked through Battery Park to the FDR in the cloud you have seen on TV, along with thousands of other people toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Almost to the bridge, a wonderful man picked three others and us up and gave us a ride in his blazer. He had a radio and we finally were able to get some idea of what was going on.
We finally made it out to a hotel by JFK airport. It was about Noon or 12:30pm. Phyllis stood in line to get us 78th on the list of people waiting for a hotel room! They had evacuated JFK so they were bringing in busloads of people from JFK with no where to go. While Phyllis stood in that line, I stood in line for the payphone because our cell phones were still not working. I finally got to a phone and got through to Frank who got Zaden. That was the first time I cried. It was so good to hear his voice and to be in a relatively safe place. I dont know if that was the first time that Zaden cried, but I know it was the best silent conversation Ive ever had.
The people that we met that day really were amazing. It makes me proud that there are people like that in this country - I knew that there were, I just didnt know how many of them. The brave people that we came down the stairway with; the firemen who ran up the stairs as we came down; the people on the street who stopped to help those who had fallen; the woman at the dry cleaners who gave us her phone to use; the laundry truck driver who threw up the back of his truck and stood in the cloud to hand out towels and linen napkins to people to cover their nose and mouth so we could breathe; Hiam, who picked up five strangers in NYC and drove us all somewhere safe; and then there was Ellenis. Ellenis was standing at the pay phone next to us. She saw Phyllis and I break down when we finally were able to reach our husbands, she saw that among all the displaced people at the hotel from JFK that we were covered in dirt and white ash. She began to talk with us and learned that we had escaped from the World Trade Center. She took us up to her room. She and her sister-in-law Danielle had a rental car and had decided to drive to L.A. rather than try to fly. They sat us down and gave us something to drink while they packed their belongings and they gave us their hotel room. Ellenis would not go down to the front desk with us to change the room to our name and our credit card because she was afraid that we would lose the room to one of the other 77 people on the list in front of us. She gave us contact numbers to reach her in L.A. as well as phone numbers for her brothers. She gave us her room on her credit card and said, well make it up later.
You cant imagine what the gift of that hotel room meant to Phyllis and I. We had a place to sit, a bathroom, a TV to figure out what was happening, and most of all, a phone we could use to call out and people could call us. Pretty simple items that really were about the very best gift Ive ever received.
Because we finally had a phone we were able to find out from Zaden and Marq that they had been in touch with Carolyn, she was safe and had gotten to the Eastgate. Zaden was able to call my Mom and Dad and tell them we were safe. My Mom knew that we had gotten out of the building but she also knew we were looking for Carolyn; then she saw the building collapse and didnt hear from me for another 3 1/2 hours.
Throughout our morning, Zaden was going through the other side of the trauma. In some ways Im glad that I was in my shoes (flats that day by the way!) rather than his. I had to concentrate on figuring out what to do and where to go the whole time while he had silence and not knowing what was happening. Zaden wasnt able to get to a TV until later in the morning. He stood in Finnigans in Providence, Rhode Island and couldnt believe what he was seeing on TV. Our friends in Rhode Island supported him. They notified him as soon as they heard that something had happened and they stood with him while he watched it on TV. They actually saw Carolyn walking down the FDR while they were watching the TV so they knew she was okay.
Zaden became the point of contact for everyone and called our families to keep them updated and to get updated. Our families and friends had no way of knowing that Zaden was not in the WTC with us and had a very scary time until they were able to hear from him. He and Marq were the connection between me and Phyllis and Carolyn. They coordinated on how to get us out of NYC.
Marq began driving up from Virginia and Zaden was able to drive from Rhode Island. One way or the other, they were going to get the three of us out of there! Zaden got within about 10 blocks of our hotel (they had blocked the roads). Phyllis and I walked out to meet him the next morning (Wednesday). Marq drove to New Jersey and Carolyn was able to get a train out of the city to meet him.
After a stop in New Jersey to see Carolyn with our own eyes, Zaden drove us home (in the stolen Hertz car) to Chicago and Marq drove Carolyn home to Nashville. We got Phyllis home to her husband Tom in Arlington Heights, Illinos, on Thursday evening.
Every person has their story from that day, Im thankful that ours turned out the way it did. We were all so very lucky.
NMAH Story: Life Changed
In the aftermath, we have both had our ups and downs. We are so thankful to be safe; to be together, and to have our close friends safe. Thank all of you who left voice mails, sent emails, and sent cards. You helped. We are heartbroken for the firemen and policemen, the one person from our company and the eight people from our parent company who were not able to make it out safely, and all of the others who lost their lives and their loved ones.
We are getting better each day although things will never be the same. I guess really they shouldnt be the same. I want to hold tight to the lessons that I learned this year, what it means to help others, that the daily hassels and frustrations that seem so important at the time are of no comparison to seeing and being able to hold that person that you love, lending someone who needs help a hand, what it means to be an American, and how much, in the end that you still need your Mom and Dad no matter how old you get!
Within two weeks Z and I were back on a plane. This time to Seattle to see my Mom & Dad and our family. I can tell you that there was nothing better than having my Mom, Dad, sisters, and brothers to hug and cry with. We also went to Texas to see Zadens Mom (more great hugs), brothers and sisters, and his Dad and Doris (more great hugs). We celebrated Zadens Dads 80th birthday with him while we were there.
We have been back in New York City working out of temporary office space in the W Hotel at 49th and Lexington. It is doubtful that our company will survive intact so we know additional changes are coming but we also know that we are together and have our friends and familes and that we are part of an amazing country. The challenge is for us to not forget how very lucky we are as time goes on.
We are getting better each day although things will never be the same. I guess really they shouldnt be the same. I want to hold tight to the lessons that I learned this year, what it means to help others, that the daily hassels and frustrations that seem so important at the time are of no comparison to seeing and being able to hold that person that you love, lending someone who needs help a hand, what it means to be an American, and how much, in the end that you still need your Mom and Dad no matter how old you get!
Within two weeks Z and I were back on a plane. This time to Seattle to see my Mom & Dad and our family. I can tell you that there was nothing better than having my Mom, Dad, sisters, and brothers to hug and cry with. We also went to Texas to see Zadens Mom (more great hugs), brothers and sisters, and his Dad and Doris (more great hugs). We celebrated Zadens Dads 80th birthday with him while we were there.
We have been back in New York City working out of temporary office space in the W Hotel at 49th and Lexington. It is doubtful that our company will survive intact so we know additional changes are coming but we also know that we are together and have our friends and familes and that we are part of an amazing country. The challenge is for us to not forget how very lucky we are as time goes on.
NMAH Story: Remembered
Our wish is that you take some time to hug those you love and let them know how much they mean to you. My other wish is that you will find some time to give something to a stranger on the street -- even a smile and a hello will do -- you never know just how much of a gift it might be for them.
The ordinary people who performed extra ordinary acts of kindness is what should be remembered. We are so thankful to have people like that in our lives.
The ordinary people who performed extra ordinary acts of kindness is what should be remembered. We are so thankful to have people like that in our lives.
NMAH Story: Flag
Yes, we did fly an American Flag. My feelings haven't changed but they have grown stronger.
Citation
“nmah4146.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed November 30, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/46181.