story6563.xml
Title
story6563.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-12
911DA Story: Story
As I walked to my building from the subway located on Sixth Avenue and 42nd St., I was thinking about what a beautiful day we were having. I prayed that Jesus would come back soon, as I usually do.
When I entered the office at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company - located in the Kodak building on 6th and 43rd, I noticed that my co-workers were looking out the window at some smoke. They had the radio on and I asked what was happening. They told me that the World Trade Center was on fire! We were not able to see the building from our location on the 17th floor, however we did see a lot of smoke.
Someone suggested that we watch the television in the conference room. Like most people, we wondered how a plane could possibly accidentally hit the WTC on such a clear day!
The next thing we saw was another plane hit the other tower and I said it was a terrorist attack!
As we watched in horror, we saw the first tower implode. One of our employees (Debbie) had a sister who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. She screamed as she watched the tower collapse.
I have a friend who works for Port Authority, I started sobbing. I remember another co-worker (Mary) also sobbing.
I went back to my desk crying my eyes out thinking about my friend Lorraine Walsh. I kept saying her name. I just knew she could not have gotten out of that building. Everything happened so fast, I just thought that there were thousands of people killed in that disaster.
We were hearing reports that there were several planes that had been hijacked and no one knew how many or where they were.
I tried to contact my sister who works at Cravath Swain and Moore, a law firm on 8th Ave. and 50th St. She was OK. I told her that one of my co-workers invited me to stay with her in Brooklyn.
After a while the phone lines were jammed and we could not make any calls. Our Office Manager decided to let us go and wanted to make sure that no one was alone. We all grouped together outside the office. By that time I knew that the bridges and roads were closed to N.J.
My manager's husband had walked up to our office from 7 WTC. He was OK and told us his experience of escaping from the building. So a group of us - my manager - Gerri Fernandes; her husband; Sara Giaimo - the secretary; Mary Gaw - my co-worker started walking uptown to the Queens Midtown Bridge. There were thousands of people trying to get out of the city. We all tried to stay together, hanging on to each other for dear life. Everyone kept making sure that we did not lose anyone.
It was very hot. We arrived at the bridge and the police were directing us to walk on the sunny side of the bridge. It felt like a hundred degrees! It seemed like we had walked about 10 miles already. I had no idea where we were going. I was just following the crowd.
I felt sorry for Gerri. She was walking in heels. I was so happy that I had my sneakers on. I couldn't imagine how much pain she was in.
As we walked over the bridge, we could see the smoke coming from downtown. It was really sickening.
People had all sorts of emotions. Some were grieving. Some were enjoying the adventure.
When we finally got to the other side of the bridge, Gerri and her husband went on their way. Mary, Sara, and I went to Sara's parents' house in Queens. Her family is from Italy and they gave us some food and water which I delighted to have.
We watched TV for a while and waited for Sara's daughter to pick us up and drive us to Sara's house. We were at Sara's house for a while and Sara gave us some wonderful tomatoes from her garden with olive oil and mozzerella cheese. They were fabulous and as usual, I was starving.
Then we waited for Mary's brother to pick us up to bring us to Brooklyn. He arrived about 6 and took us to his house. We were there for a while visiting with him. Then he drove Mary and I to Mary's house in Brooklyn.
She is Chinese and lives in the China town section of Brooklyn. I met her family, including her grandmother. They made dinner for us. The family spoke Chinese and Mary translated for me.
They were Buddhist and had a little Buddhist altar in their dining room with a box for their ancestors remains. I found it very interesting.
After dinner, Mary and I watched TV until about 3 AM. I tried calling NJ several times during the night but the lines were still not working. I finally went to sleep. Mary had given me her room. She stayed up and watched TV practically all night.
That's all I could think about was Lorraine Walsh, my friend who worked for Port Authority. Lorraine had escaped the first bombing in 1993. I was sure that she did not make it this time but I was dying to know what happened to her.
The next morning, I had breakfast with Mary and she walked me over to the subway so I could get back home. The subway from Brooklyn went past downtown Manhattan. There was such a feeling of emptiness there. I had to go to midtown to get transportation back to New Jersey.
When I finally got back to Jersey City, where I was staying with my friend Gwen Verdon, I had a chance to call my mother and reassure her that I was OK. I found out that my sisters were OK too.
I called Lorraine's house and left a message for her on her answering machine begging her to call me if she was OK. Lorraine had a habit of never returning phone calls.
I couldn't believe my ears when I actually received a call from Lorraine telling me she was OK but very emotionally upset about loosing so many of her friends and co-workers. I was so happy she was alive!
When I spoke with my cousin Mary about Lorraine, she told me that she was relieved that her brother Richard got out alive too. I didn't even know that Richard worked at the WTC!
About a week later, I learned that Al Kappelman, who I knew from the Liberty Mutual International Division had been killed while attending a meeting at the WTC. Then about a month later, I received a notice for a memorial Mass for Deborah Kobus who had been killed at the World Trade Center.
I met Debbie when I worked at Sun Life of New York Insurance Company. Debbie was very adventurous and loved traveling all over the world and go skiing. She would often go by herself.
She also told me that she was reading the entire Bible from start to finish. She inspired me to start reading it too.
When I decided to enter a Monastery, I had asked Debbie to write a reference letter for me. She asked me to help her. We decided to meet at the bar of the Marriott Hotel where she wrote the referral letter for me.
She was also there at the Monastery the day that I had entered. Unfortunately, I was asked to leave about a month later.
I'm still in mourning for Debbie and Al. I pray that they are at rest with God. I pray that all those who were killed that day are with God, too.
God bless America!
When I entered the office at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company - located in the Kodak building on 6th and 43rd, I noticed that my co-workers were looking out the window at some smoke. They had the radio on and I asked what was happening. They told me that the World Trade Center was on fire! We were not able to see the building from our location on the 17th floor, however we did see a lot of smoke.
Someone suggested that we watch the television in the conference room. Like most people, we wondered how a plane could possibly accidentally hit the WTC on such a clear day!
The next thing we saw was another plane hit the other tower and I said it was a terrorist attack!
As we watched in horror, we saw the first tower implode. One of our employees (Debbie) had a sister who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. She screamed as she watched the tower collapse.
I have a friend who works for Port Authority, I started sobbing. I remember another co-worker (Mary) also sobbing.
I went back to my desk crying my eyes out thinking about my friend Lorraine Walsh. I kept saying her name. I just knew she could not have gotten out of that building. Everything happened so fast, I just thought that there were thousands of people killed in that disaster.
We were hearing reports that there were several planes that had been hijacked and no one knew how many or where they were.
I tried to contact my sister who works at Cravath Swain and Moore, a law firm on 8th Ave. and 50th St. She was OK. I told her that one of my co-workers invited me to stay with her in Brooklyn.
After a while the phone lines were jammed and we could not make any calls. Our Office Manager decided to let us go and wanted to make sure that no one was alone. We all grouped together outside the office. By that time I knew that the bridges and roads were closed to N.J.
My manager's husband had walked up to our office from 7 WTC. He was OK and told us his experience of escaping from the building. So a group of us - my manager - Gerri Fernandes; her husband; Sara Giaimo - the secretary; Mary Gaw - my co-worker started walking uptown to the Queens Midtown Bridge. There were thousands of people trying to get out of the city. We all tried to stay together, hanging on to each other for dear life. Everyone kept making sure that we did not lose anyone.
It was very hot. We arrived at the bridge and the police were directing us to walk on the sunny side of the bridge. It felt like a hundred degrees! It seemed like we had walked about 10 miles already. I had no idea where we were going. I was just following the crowd.
I felt sorry for Gerri. She was walking in heels. I was so happy that I had my sneakers on. I couldn't imagine how much pain she was in.
As we walked over the bridge, we could see the smoke coming from downtown. It was really sickening.
People had all sorts of emotions. Some were grieving. Some were enjoying the adventure.
When we finally got to the other side of the bridge, Gerri and her husband went on their way. Mary, Sara, and I went to Sara's parents' house in Queens. Her family is from Italy and they gave us some food and water which I delighted to have.
We watched TV for a while and waited for Sara's daughter to pick us up and drive us to Sara's house. We were at Sara's house for a while and Sara gave us some wonderful tomatoes from her garden with olive oil and mozzerella cheese. They were fabulous and as usual, I was starving.
Then we waited for Mary's brother to pick us up to bring us to Brooklyn. He arrived about 6 and took us to his house. We were there for a while visiting with him. Then he drove Mary and I to Mary's house in Brooklyn.
She is Chinese and lives in the China town section of Brooklyn. I met her family, including her grandmother. They made dinner for us. The family spoke Chinese and Mary translated for me.
They were Buddhist and had a little Buddhist altar in their dining room with a box for their ancestors remains. I found it very interesting.
After dinner, Mary and I watched TV until about 3 AM. I tried calling NJ several times during the night but the lines were still not working. I finally went to sleep. Mary had given me her room. She stayed up and watched TV practically all night.
That's all I could think about was Lorraine Walsh, my friend who worked for Port Authority. Lorraine had escaped the first bombing in 1993. I was sure that she did not make it this time but I was dying to know what happened to her.
The next morning, I had breakfast with Mary and she walked me over to the subway so I could get back home. The subway from Brooklyn went past downtown Manhattan. There was such a feeling of emptiness there. I had to go to midtown to get transportation back to New Jersey.
When I finally got back to Jersey City, where I was staying with my friend Gwen Verdon, I had a chance to call my mother and reassure her that I was OK. I found out that my sisters were OK too.
I called Lorraine's house and left a message for her on her answering machine begging her to call me if she was OK. Lorraine had a habit of never returning phone calls.
I couldn't believe my ears when I actually received a call from Lorraine telling me she was OK but very emotionally upset about loosing so many of her friends and co-workers. I was so happy she was alive!
When I spoke with my cousin Mary about Lorraine, she told me that she was relieved that her brother Richard got out alive too. I didn't even know that Richard worked at the WTC!
About a week later, I learned that Al Kappelman, who I knew from the Liberty Mutual International Division had been killed while attending a meeting at the WTC. Then about a month later, I received a notice for a memorial Mass for Deborah Kobus who had been killed at the World Trade Center.
I met Debbie when I worked at Sun Life of New York Insurance Company. Debbie was very adventurous and loved traveling all over the world and go skiing. She would often go by herself.
She also told me that she was reading the entire Bible from start to finish. She inspired me to start reading it too.
When I decided to enter a Monastery, I had asked Debbie to write a reference letter for me. She asked me to help her. We decided to meet at the bar of the Marriott Hotel where she wrote the referral letter for me.
She was also there at the Monastery the day that I had entered. Unfortunately, I was asked to leave about a month later.
I'm still in mourning for Debbie and Al. I pray that they are at rest with God. I pray that all those who were killed that day are with God, too.
God bless America!
Collection
Citation
“story6563.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 7, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/7907.