Another 9/11 question, not so controversial this time..**EDITED** Our 9/11 Memorial

for some reason, I am extreamly sad about 9/11 this year. It seemed to have hit me more this year than before. When I see images of 9-11, I feel like crying. I am glad that it seems to be settling down, as far as public ceremonies. I DO NOT think that people will ever forget but maybe its a time for personal reflections, rather than 24 hours of coverage.

Lisa, I feel the same way. Last night there was a show on channel 21, that was the most vivid, not glossed over account of 9/11. It showed the news footage with actual sounds of screams in the streets, of the buildings getting hit and falling...no music to 'hollywood-ize' it. It hit me so hard I could barely take it. But I just had to watch it for some reason. It was almost healing in a way..it's so strange. I really think this year will bring closure for a lot of people....at least I hope it will.

Here is a little excerpt I found that was written on our family friend. (it was a story in the daily news)

I wanted to share with you ladies.

JOSEPH From Tollbooths to Towers

Joseph was hired by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as a toll collector right out of high school. For some people, that might be a dead-end job. For him it was only a beginning. Over the years, Mr. Joseph, 41, moved from toll collecting to carpentry and from there to management. He used the agency's education plan to get an undergraduate degree in business management, taking classes at night, and was 18 months from a master's degree at Baruch College.

As a manager of operations and maintenance at the World Trade Center, he was on the phone every weekend from his home in Ozone Park, Queens, making sure that things were being done right, that subordinates were treating his beloved towers just so. 'I'd argue with him, `What do you think, you're going to own those buildings?' ' said his wife, Debra.

Mr. Joe was seen on the street outside the twin towers at one point on the morning of Sept. 11. Someone yelled, 'Let's run!' Ms. Debra was later told, he ran back in.

This thread is turning into a memorial of sorts. This is Eileen.....


Eileen Flecha

Engaged Couple Had Inner Strength

December 23, 2001

Eileen Flecha and her fiance, Ivan Perez, had their future all mapped out.

They got engaged on Dec. 3 of last year, his 37th birthday, and spent the next nine months getting their finances in order so they could buy a house. The only thing they hadn't figured out was where they were going to live.

'They were torn between urban blight and quiet,' said Flecha's stepfather, Robert Morris.

Flecha, 33, lived with her father and mother, Veronica Ann Morris, in Kew Gardens, just a few miles away from Perez's apartment in Ozone Park. The couple wanted to stay close to the Morrises, but also wanted a place where Perez's children, Darleen, 12, and Ivan Jr., 11, could play outside when they came to visit on the weekends.

Blending families was second nature for Flecha, who never knew her biological father but had a father in Morris since age 13, he said, when he married her mother. After she met Perez at work in the mid-'90s in Tower One - she was a junior trader for Fiduciary Trust on the 97th floor, and he worked in the firm's trading settlement department three floors above - she simply folded him into her family, too.

Perez's parents, Diana Ramos and Antonio Perez, live in Puerto Rico, so the Morrises' apartment became his home away from home. 'The next thing you know, I've got more children,' Morris said. 'His apartment wasn't far, but the home cooking was here.'

Perez also stayed close with his siblings - his younger brother, Edgard Ramos, and his older sister, Maribel Parker - who grew up in East New York and remained here when his parents returned home. Each summer, they flew their mother from Puerto Rico for a few months of family togetherness and festivities in Queens. These were happy times.

'When the family was together we always had jokes and laughs,' his brother said. 'He loved my mom's cooking,' her rice and beans, and especially her version of pernil, a Puerto Rican pork dish.

Relatives on both sides say that Perez took his duties as a parent seriously. 'He was adamant about that,' Morris said. Perez saw the children, who live with their mother in Brooklyn, every Saturday and enjoyed taking them to baseball games. He and Ivan Jr. would root for the Mets; Eileen and Darleen were die-hard Yankees fans.

The couple had more in common than their mutual love of sports and movies. Both were quiet, but not pushover quiet, more the sort whose low-key demeanor cloaks steely determination. Flecha, who at 5 feet was nicknamed 'The Munchkin,' would 'go off on people standing 6 feet' if they promised her something and didn't deliver, her stepfather said.

Her stubbornness extended even to culinary matters. Morris would cook lavish breakfasts for the family on Saturday mornings, but Flecha always passed over eggs benedict or pancakes for her personal favorite: scrambled eggs with mayonnaise, on white toast.

Perez, for his part, 'was calm, but you don't mess with him,' his brother said. That inner strength served Perez well when he asked Morris for Flecha's hand in marriage. 'I told him no, just to see how much fight he had in him,' Morris said. It took four more attempts over a two-month span before Perez won full approval; Flecha, Morris said, was sitting back and laughing the whole time.

She wasn't nervous. She knew they belonged together. 'They were always together at work, and they would go to lunch; they both helped each other out and tried to do the right thing,' he said, most recently focusing on getting money together for the house.

After a period of indecision, they were leaning toward an upstate property, secluded, with a yard, what Flecha called 'my own little compound.'

The Morrises bought them a new dinette and bedroom set, in anticipation of the closing of their mortgage. That transaction was put on permanent hold by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Ramos and Morris were both downtown when planes hit the Twin Towers and watched the north tower crumble.

'It was horrible,' Ramos said. 'I still have nightmares about buildings and planes.'

No remains have been found; memorial services for Perez and Flecha took place at the Cathedral Church of St.John the Divine in Manhattan on Oct. 6 and Dec. 1, respectively.

Now, Ramos tries to take his brother's place on Saturdays, shepherding Darleen and Ivan Jr. to events and toy giveaways thrown for children of the Sept. 11 victims. The couple's furniture sits in the Morrises' apartment. They are looking to move. Memories of Flecha fill the space; her dog, Hannibal, sleeps in her bedroom at night and by day stands sentry at the front door, waiting for his mistress to come home from work.

-- Jennifer Smith (Newsday)


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Daughter Made Her Mother Proud
Dec. 18, 2001

The year 2002 was shaping up to be a big one for 33-year-old Eileen Flecha.

She expected to marry her fiance, Ivan Perez, in July. She hoped to begin a family soon afterward. She wanted to move to upstate New York with her parents.

'She had her life planned out,' said her mother, Veronica Ann Morris. 'And it was taken away from her.'

Flecha worked as a junior trader with Fiduciary Trust on the 98th floor of the south tower. Perez, 37, worked for the same firm, just a few floors above Flecha. Both died in the attacks.

Flecha lived in Queens with her mother and stepfather, Robert Morris. Perez lived in Ozone Park, also in Queens.

Her mother tried to persuade Flecha many times after the 1993 bombing to find a job outside the World Trade Center.

Flecha refused, telling her mother she had not raised a coward. Telling her mother the terrorists won if she ran.

Mother and daughter spoke by phone shortly after the airliners crashed into the World Trade Center.

Flecha cried. She told her mother to take care of her stepdad if she didn't live.

'This is my daughter,' Morris said. 'She made me proud to be her mother.'

--Fred Carroll (Daily Press)

here is a friend of mine who passed away ...she was engaged and also was her sister's MOH a month before she died. And her sister had a baby girl shortly after she died.

Jennifer Mazzotta
World Trade Center, New York City, NY
Employer: Cantor Fitzgerald

New York, NY
Age: 23

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Lynda Saar

Dear Jenn: Tonight I did some reminiscing and pulled out years of photos, so many pictures of you! I think of you so often throughout the day but sometimes it hurts to see your picture. Tonight all I saw was Jenn. My beautiful niece. God only knows how much you are missed. I wanted so much to be able to grab you out of the pictures and hold you. I wanted to tell you I love you one more time. Life as we knew it prior to 9/11 will never be the same. Your passing has affected us so completely. Jenn, if you did not know it it in your earthly lifetime you surely know it now in heaven that you were held in such high regard by all of us who love you, all of us who were so proud of who you were and what you were about. Jenn we couldn't have asked for more. God allowed us the great fortune of having you for 23 years. I can't imagaine what our lives would have been like if we didn't have you at all. Mama, I miss you. Until we meet again. May God Bless us all, Love Aunt Lynda


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Catherine Mazzotta

Dear Jennifer,
We miss you more than words can say. Our lives will never be the same without you. You are a daughter that made us so proud. It is so hard to go on without you. All our dreams are gone, you were to be married to a wonderful guy , Anthony, someone we also grew to love and will always. Daddy misses you so much and does your brother Charles and sister Michelle. I am so glad you were able to be her maid of honor in August. Your brother in law John and Grandpa miss you too. I will try to go one cause I know that is what you would want but it won't be easy. You were always the one who made me laugh in good time s and bad. Until we meet again I will hold your love and memories right here in my heart. Love you and miss you so much.
Love and kisses, Mom

My gosh she was only 23.

I think the people who perished on that day should always be memorialized and remembed.

They gave up their own lives to save the lives of many others

Some from Billy Burke's...

Capt. William F. 'Burke, Jr.'
World Trade Center, New York City, NY
Employer: New York Fire Department

New York, NY
Age: 46
Firefighter

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Carole

As the second anniversary of this tragic event approaches, we all must realize that we are on this earth for a short time. We must take care of each other and love one another. Don't sweat the small stuff because life is too precious. Never forget those you love!!!

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Jimmy Fitz

Billy,
Its taken me over 2 years to write something to you, but words can't describe the way I feel about this sad event. We shared those 'tender years' together and stayed close friends until the end. Your death changed my entire outlook on life. I treasure each waking moment knowing that this time on earth may end today. Life passes in the blink of an eye, and I try not to waste any moments since 911.

You are in my prayers nightly, and I know sometime from now we will meet again, and continue our eternal lives.

For now all I can do is think of a quote from the Countin' Crows Mrs Potter which says '...The price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings...' and right now I am paying that price, but someday I know the memory will turn into a reality and the sorrow will go away.

May God bless you Billy Burke, and lay his hand of comfort on your family.

I am proud to have lived knowing that you made the world a little better place to live, and that my children sleep tight at night knowing that people of your character are alive in the dreams and aspiration of today's youth.

Rest well old friend,

Jimmy Fitz

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Britt Kaplan

Silly Uncle Billy-
Heyy Billy, how's heaven because I know that you are up there with your heart of gold. Not everything is going the best, I miss you like crazy and can't stand not having you ask me your famous question! Well, actually my answer now is I'm so pretty because you're my friend. You've taught me so much over the 12 years that I have known you, and by the way those years were the best years of my LIFE! You have taught me to not be slefish and put others before myslef, and now I am going to think of you every time something happens and people have to go before I do. I miss you and I love you with ALL MY HEART!!!!<33 You're the best SILLY UNCLE BILLY!!!

-Britt Kaplan
(Stuart Kaplan's daughter)

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Jay Liegey

Billy,
Remember when You, Stu, Zakar, Rich Malen and Me posed for that photograph, in the summer of '01. I quoted it and you wrote it- ' The best RM II lifeguard and four other guy's' There is a problem though. We ALL think we are the BEST!!!! I know that there is a girl alive today because of you and me. I brought her out of the water. I was exhausted, you ran up and we started CPR on her. She lived because of your persistance. I remember early in your fireman career I was walking by a news stand here in Florida. The NY Daily News had a front page article about some fireman pulling these bums out of a burning building. I looked closley it was you. So I brought this to school and laminated it, and when we started the beach the next summer I took the newspaper article to RM II and hung it in the shack. Above it I placed the words 'MY HERO' You were then and you are now and you will always be 'MY HERO' I miss your funny cards, your phone calls talking about the Yankees. I miss you singing and dancing on the deck at the beach, I miss your BIG mouth. But mst of all I miss you. Please watch over all us, we need your help still!!!!!

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James M. Burke

As my older brother I always looked to you for guidance and approval. I never realized how much of a hero you are till you were gone. God Bless you and know that your nieces and nephews and I are incredibly proud of your courage and leadership in facing the worst attack in this countrys history. You will always be my hero and the hero of all who knew you.

Things are not the way they were, people for the most part have gone back to their old ways, while police officers and firefighters are no longer 'heroes'

There were a few of our friends that did not get to ocme home that day

Mikey (My DH's best friend)

Gene

Frank

Bronk

Artie

Eric

http://www.bravestmemorial.com/html/members/santora_christopher_fr_e054.html

One of our friends...

He was off duty, he went back. Gave his life to save other.

I did a google search with our family friends name and I never realized how many things their were with him.

here is something else I found which is something I never knew. He died helping save the lives of so many others

Joseph was the Manager of Operations and Maintenance for the World Trade Department. On September 11, Joe was outside the buildings at 9:15AM but he decided to go back in and make the ultimate sacrifice. While contract staff abandon their post Joe went to manned their post at the elevator starters console in the lobby of Two World Trade Center. There he manned the elevator intercom console talking to people that were trapped in the elevators of Two World Trade Center and at the same time he relayed the entrapment information to uniformed rescue personnel. The last time Joe was heard from he was at the elevator starter's console six minutes prior to the collapse of building Two still talking to people trapped in elevators via the intercom system.

I hope you don't mind Misty...that it has turned into a memorial...it is such a nice way to keep people in our memories...

Craig Blass , 27

Residence: Greenlawn, New York, USA
Occupation: Block Equities Trader, Cantor Fitzgerald
Location: World Trade Center

Craig was a warm and loving person and a wonderful son and brother. He was always happy and looking forward to the future, which he hoped would include marriage and children.
Craig was an excellent student and also loved to participate in sports. Growing up he played intramural and travel soccer, baseball, and basketball. In high school he was on the varsity soccer and basketball teams. He was also on the Cantor Fitzgerald basketball team. In his spare time, Craig would attend sporting events and he also liked to travel. His favorite team was the New Jersey Devils hockey team, but he also loved the Mets and Knicks.

Craig had loads of friends. When he was home the phone was always ringing. He was looking forward to his 10-year high school reunion this year. His college fraternity has established a $25,000 scholarship in Craig's name.

Submitted By: Craig's Mother





Hometown: Greenlawn, New York, USA
Religion: Jewish
High School: Harborfields High School
College/
University: James Madison University
Interests: Cantor Fitzgerald Basketball Team, Playing Soccer and Basketball, and a Fan of New Jersey Devils Hockey, New York Mets Baseball, and New York Knicks Basketball
Organizational
memberships and interests: Theta Chi

Erika..lol. Re-read my first post..I just edited the thread! I think it's great!

sorry Misty if it was my post that changed where you were taking this...

but i think this is a great thing.. gives us a chance to all grieve together..

I'd like to remember:
Terrance Farrell
Robert Caufield
and
Michael Haub....

I think this is a wonderful way to add a remembrance of a friend or loved one. I hope that it continues.

Thanks Erica for posting the link to the names. Two of my son's friends lost their Dads that day, so it really hits home.

thanks Melissa

this was a good friend of craigs, I never got to meet him but he lived in our neighborhood for a while and craig graduated from the academy with him and worked w/ him in the bronx before Wally went to ESU

Walter E. Weaver
World Trade Center, New York City, NY
'Employer: New York Police Department, Emergency Services Unit'

Centereach, NY
Age: 30
Police Officer




I just added this to his name


While I never got to meet Wally, my husband graduated the police academy with him and worked with him in the Bronx and was good friends with him.

Craig told me he used to see Wally all the time at Trunz and two brothers pizza when wally lived in Hicksville. May your family be comforted w/ Peace and God's blessings and may you rest in peace.

Please...DON'T ANYONE BE SORRY!! I am so happy it has turned into this!

Me & DH friends:

Gabriela Waisman
World Trade Center, New York City, NY
Age: 33


John Perry
World Trade Center, New York City, NY
'Employer: New York Police Department, 40Th Precinct'
New York, NY
Age: 38
Police Officer


Michael Weinberg
World Trade Center, New York City, NY
Employer: New York Fire Department
New York, NY
Age: 34
Firefighter