Euclid High School Online Directory

Where Were You ...

September 11, 2001 

When you first learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon?

Bonnie Bowman (E '62)  I was at work at the law firm of Peabody & Arnold in downtown Boston, Massachusetts and had the radio on.  They closed the offices and sent everyone home for fear Boston could be attacked as well.  The bus and train stations were filled with people and armed police with bomb sniffing dogs.

Jim Brady (E '81)  I was vacationing with my family in Australia.  My flight was to depart back to the US on 9/12/03, just 1 day after the attacks.  Left with no way back home and only TV news accounts on what was happening, we hunkered down and were glued to our TV sets for updates.  Once airspace to the US reopened, we were one of the first flights back into the country.  The flight took 24 hours, but it seemed like 48 hours due to the fact that no one slept the whole way home. We were all to busy watching one another.

Phil Bremser (E '50)  I was retired, sitting at home watching the Today show when they broke in to show us this unbelievable tragedy.  We were glued to the TV all day.

Chris Bryant (E '90)  I was teaching 6th grade, at Forest Park.  I stopped by my Principal's office, when Hank Steinmetz informed me that 2 planes hit the Towers.  I told my class when we returned to room 212 after special (Gym, Art, Music, or Library), I realized that this would be this generation's first "Where were you" memory.  I shared with my class that I was student at Forest Park for the Challenger explosion.  It was an interesting teaching day to say the least.  Many parents came to the school to pick up their kids as soon as they heard, many kids wondered why their parents had not come to get them yet, and many kids wondered why parents were coming in the first place.

Joanne Buchar (E '58)  I had retired by then and was working at the “Safe and Drug-Free Schools Consortium.”  We were all called to the area where we ate lunch.  We watched the replay of the first tower and I remember saying “it looks like this is on purpose” and then the second tower and then announcement of the Pentagon and Pennsylvania occurred.  We were all in shock, as was the rest of the country.

Brendan Carey (E '97)  My parents and I had arrived in Ireland that morning and were on our way to my uncle's house, about a five hour drive from the airport.  Near the end of the drive, my parents stopped at a pub to get something to drink and left me to sleep in the car.  About ten minutes later my mom came out to wake me and told me about the planes going into the tower.  I didn't believe her at first but then went into the pub and saw the replay on TV.

Patrick S. Cater (E '89)  I was at work at UHHS Richmond Heights Hospital on that fateful day.  I exited one of our back rooms to find a large number of fellow employees standing in front of the television in our waiting area.  It had been a busy morning and I hadn't been near a television at all that morning.  I knew it was something serious by the looks on their faces.  My boss turned to me with tears in her eyes and stated "We're under attack."  We were all in a state of shock ... we were shocked to our core.  I will never forget that morning, and the utter shock, fear, hatred, and bewilderment we felt.

Edward Chenock (E '07)  I was in seventh grade at Central and was at the end of Earth Science class when the guidance counselor walked by and told our science teacher to turn the TV on.  The first image that I saw was one of the towers of the World Trade Center and bellows of smoke coming out of its upper floors.  The principal, Jim Poulson, came over the PA system and said: "Good Morning, students, as many of you see we have a situation in New York City.  We have heard news that a suicide plane had struck both towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  All buildings in Washington, D.C. were evacuated.  During Lunch and the Study Halls, we will leave the TVs on for further coverage."  I clearly remember many of our teachers saying: "Usually, you see this in the movies, but this is the real thing, think of the many people who are actually dying right now!"  I also remember seeing that buildings and landmarks in Cleveland were being shut down and evacuated.  We were also heartfully advised: "If you ever leave your house and you say 'Goodbye' and 'I love you' to your family, please do it twice before you leave, because any day could be your last."

Claudia Cummings (E '87)  I was on the subway on my way to work in midtown Manhattan when I was told that our train (the number 4 uptown) would be going express through the City Hall station due to a terrorist incident.  We never made it through the station -- it was filled with debris from the collapse of the first tower.  We were lucky to be able to back up to the previous station and get out to street level, where we stepped out into unbelievable chaos.  I'll never forget how all of the people on that train banded together to help each other get to safety -- nor will I forget the first time I looked up and saw an empty hole where the towers had been. 

Len Evancic (E ’58)  The first I knew about the attacks happened when my wife phoned home and excitedly told me to "turn on the TV news."  This was immediately after the second plane had struck the towers.  As soon as the TV came on, I saw both towers on fire and the replay of the second plane flying into a tower.  Shortly thereafter, the news came on about a third plane that had crashed into the Pentagon.  At that point, I called my parents in Euclid to see if they were watching television and learned that not only were they watching the events unfold, but they knew about another plane that might be headed to Cleveland.  Apparently there were reports being broadcast in Cleveland at the time about Flight 93 that eventually crashed in Pennsylvania when the heroic passengers attempted to fight back and regain control of the plane.  I remember thinking that what I was feeling at the time must have been similar to what my parents and other members of their generation felt when and after they heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

John Fleshin (E '64)  I was teaching at Cleveland Heights High School.  The kids said something, and I stayed on task, as I just did not have the information at hand and I was in the middle of a stretch of several classes back to back.  Students took this as a sign I did not care, but this early on in a school year, teachers do not always share everything as there are necessary routines to fall back on.  If I do not teach, they do not learn, though if I had had the total picture, I would have certainly reacted differently.  It is also not up to me to tell them how to feel about such an outrageous event, and I did not have enough information to give them facts to form the feelings to come.

Karen Franzen (E '74)  It was a cool beautiful, blue sky day in New York City - kind we call a "top ten."  I was at my office - 125 Broad Street, downtown NYC.  Looking out the window, we saw paper floating - not unusual, if there was a parade down Broadway - but there was no parade that day.  I had gone down to get a cup of coffee in the lobby, when I saw a coworker -- she was frantic -- a plane had hit one of the towers.  I got the coffee and went back upstairs -- everyone was racing around our office.  We got the radio on and listened for news -- when suddenly there was a boom and the building shook -- the windows bowed.  There was no discussion with anyone about what to do next - get out - I got on the phone and left a message for family in Pittsburgh - you're gonna see this on TV - I'm OK - not sure how I'm getting home.  My husband works with me, but had gone to the doctor uptown that morning.  I did the math in my head and figured he was out of the subway and at his appointment -- cell phones weren't working -- couldn't reach him.  I was fire warden for my floor -- so I searched and made sure all were out -- some crazy fools just sat in their chairs - I had to leave.  I found a friend somehow down in the street and we made a beeline for a ferry - I'd done this before in NYC during the first explosion - the ferry is the best way out.  We were all screaming for Hoboken - but the ferry was going to Weehawken - they finally gave in and took us on board.  As we rounded the island - we could see the smoke and the streams of people along the waterfront - we were right in front of the towers when the first one just crumbled -- we fell to our knees -- it happened so quickly -- so surreal -- a reverse mushroom cloud -- it just spread across the ground.  We got home fine - the Internet kept us in touch with family -- somehow my husband got through to Pittsburgh - they got through to me.  Weird.  Finally the phone rang and it was him on the line -- he got to a ferry -- and we talked on the phone for his whole commute home.  We work in the insurance business -- we lost friends at Marsh & Aon - we were lucky.  I can never describe it like it was -- devastating.

Shirley Furse (E '71)  I was home at the time with the TV on in the background when they broke in with the reports.  We watched the smoke coming from the one tower, then it went down.  I immediately went to my computer and got online, because I have two extremely close friends who live in New York.  I e-mailed them asking them to let me know by e-mail or whatever, that they were OK.  One of them happened to be right there, at the Post Office down and over a block from the towers.  He said, someone said "Run" and they did just that ... out of the building as fast as they could go, in the opposite direction.  The other friend got back to me an hour later.

Annmarie Geddes (E '86)  I live in Arlington, Virginia, just two miles from the Pentagon.  I was pregnant and about to take my oldest daughter (a toddler at the time) out for a walk with a neighbor.  My husband was a newswire editor then in The District and called to tell me the first of the Twin Towers were hit.  My neighbor wondered if we should still take our children out for a walk.  I said, why not, the craziness is in New York.  But I couldn't have been more wrong.  Turns out that while we were out taking our small children for a walk, a plane was crashing into the Pentagon.  People driving down the street asked us if we knew what happened.  We thought they were referring to New York, but when we learned about the Pentagon, we started home.  There was no way to reach our husbands on a cell phone, all circuits were busy.  Turned out he had left me a message saying that he was going to walk home from Washington, D.C.  The problem was, the radio said the metro and bridges in and out of The District where being closed down, so there would be no way for him to get into Virginia.  My husband finally made it home OK, four anxious hours later, but those suspended hours of waiting were just a small hint of what others went through.  While the TV was showing the burning towers and Pentagon, radio stations were adding to the hysteria by reporting that a bomb was found at the state department and another bomb had hit the Lincoln Memorial.  After the first few days of just being home, not knowing what the future held, we decided to get on with life and go shopping.  To do so required driving by the Pentagon.  It is one thing to see the Pentagon bombed out on TV, but to drive by it, to see the charred horror of what happened, forever changed me. One of my daughter's first words was airplane, because we live on the Reagan National's flight path.  But there were no planes, just a strange silence that reminded us that normal life in Washington was somehow suspended.  For weeks, we wondered when another hit would come.  On some level, in the back of our minds, we still wonder, but there is too much life to live to be afraid of unpredictable evil.  So we continue with our lives.  I remember Washington pre-9/11.  It is different now, not as free as it once was.  You cannot just walk up and touch the Washington monument anymore, (my daughter, pre- 9/11, thought she could climb it) it is surrounded by wall.  You can't just walk into the Smithsonian-- or just about anywhere else anymore -- without your stuff being searched.  Precious life and freedom was lost on 9/11--and I was forever changed.

Sheri Gezann (E '91)  I was teaching 5th grade in Stow, and one of our aides came down the hall in tears saying that both towers had been hit.  We actually didn't find out about it until after noon.  I then had the hard task of relaying the news on to my students.  I said "You will always remember where you were when you first heard this news...", and I'm sure they now will.

Sharon Golinar (E '83)  I was upstairs in my bedroom when my husband called for me to come down to the basement.  He had heard on the radio that a plane flew into the Trade Center.  We began to watch on tv.  As we watched, we witnessed the other plane as it crashed into the second tower.  We were both stunned and in disbelief.  We continued to watch and I decided to put a tape in the VCR and record.  As I did that, the one tower came down.  We continued to watch all day.  My parents were in Canada on vacation and I called them let them know as they were at a resort and stayed in cabins.  Well, they had heard and it was just as upsetting over there for them and other guests.  Their neighbors in the cabin beside them were from England and they knocked on my parents door to tell them how sorry they were for what had happened.

Jim Gordon (E '81)  I usually arrive at work early, and out here in Los Angeles, that was about 5:20 am.  We were set to film a scene at a cemetery in Pasadena for a Lifetime Network series.  I am a motion picture grip, and we live on wheels when not in the studio.  I opened the gate of our 18-wheel truck when a Location Manager told us she'd heard of a plane crash in New York.  Naturally at that hour it's pitch black and the rumors got roiling with little or no factual basis.  Like everyone, we assumed there was some kind of accident and went about unloading the truck.  It took about a half an hour to offload the film gear and we got different reports every few minutes.  People started making phone calls...not typical at that hour.  I called my wife but left a message as she was in the shower.  I only knew there was some sort of plane accident.  Eventually we got all the gear out and opened the makeshift office all the way to the front and turned on the little 13-inch set.  It was hard to believe, of course.  Throughout the day, things got worse, and oddly, we kept shooting.  What else was there to do but call friends and family and soldier on...I don't think I'd spoken to all my family members in one day since my wedding.

Mike Gordon (E '53)  I had retired from Honda-Marysville in May and was home recuperating from surgery I had in August.  I had turned on the TV to see what the Fox channel had that morning and drink my cup of tea.  The first tower was burning and the announcer was saying a plane had flown into it.  My first thought was the Empire State Building in 1945, but the weather was so clear, how could any pilot make a mistake that bad?  While trying to absorb it all, I watched the second plane impact.

Leah Halus (E '80)  I was in my home in Morganton, North Carolina.

Stacy Hamilton (E '89)  I had just moved to Akron to start my first year of law school 3 weeks earlier and had not yet had cable TV installed.  I had absolutely no idea what had happened until I got to school later that morning and the lobby was full of people watching TV.  I got there just in time to see the towers collapse.  Everyone in my civpro class watched the events unfold on our laptops until we were evacuated from the building, presumably due to our proximity to a federal court house.

Dan Himmelman (E '80)  I was attending a conference in Fairfax, VA, less than 30 minutes from the Pentagon.  When I heard of the first hit in New York, I went back to my hotel room to call my wife.  She was on the phone requiring me to call my neighbor to go next door, bang on the door and tell my wife to get off the phone.  During our conversation, I watched a television news report and saw the second plane hit the WTC over the shoulder of the reporter, an image I will unlikely ever forget.  It took less than two seconds to decide the best place to be was at home.  Being one of the few attendees with a rental car, my colleague and I quickly gathered our things, looked for any other people we could practically take and left.  Even trying to drive toward Ohio and away from the area through the chaos was extremely difficult given the traffic and confusion.  The entire 11 hour trip was filled with radio news reports and less than five sentences spoken between us.

Alan Hitchcox (E '71)  I was at work in my office at the Penton Media Building, at E 9th and St. Clair -- right next to the Federal Bldg.  A co-worker called me from his home that morning to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center a few minutes prior to his call.  We had been on the phone for awhile speculating what may have happened when the second plane hit.  We immediately realized that this was no accident.  My friend hung up the phone so he could watch coverage, and I found a radio.  A little while later, a video projector was tuned to CNN and set up in a large conference room.  This is a large room, but dozens and dozens of people from multiple floors were packed in, shoulder to shoulder.  We were told we could leave work at noon if we wanted to, but some people decided to stay.  But after only a few minutes, we were told to evacuate the building because it is located right next to Cleveland's Federal Bldg.  By this time, news had spread of the plane crash at the Pentagon, so I suppose the evacuation was a precaution, because for all anybody knew, other cities might have been under attack.  I often take the bus to work, but fortunately, I drove on this day.  While walking to my car a few blocks away, I noticed traffic on all the major streets was gridlocked.  I was able to avoid most of the traffic tie-ups by taking back roads all the way home to Willoughby.  As so many other people have written, I stayed glued to the TV for quite awhile after that.  And even though we can recount where each of us was and what we were doing, it's hard to describe the grief felt for those who died, were seriously injured, and the loved ones who were left behind.

Miriam Hohs (E ‘93)   9/11 was too close for comfort for me:  I lived in a gorgeous apartment in Jersey City, NJ with the view of the towers, worked in the City minutes away from the towers, and commuted daily via PATH (NJ/NY subway system) that took us right into the solid foundation of the World Trade Center, WTC.  That horrifying morning, I just had sat down with my coffee at my desk when a co-worker ran in through the door and told us to look out the window - "a plane crashed into the North Twin Tower" she said.  What appeared at the time as a small hole with fuming black smoke gave me a quick chance to pull away from the window to call my husband whose office was in the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, a block from the site.  Hearing that he was okay, I quickly ran back to the window only to see the second plane approach so close to the South Tower and then the impact!  I saw the flames and smoke, victims waiving their white shirts, to victims being pushed off or chose to jump, to the collapsing of the towers - we knew they were to collapse, we were civil and structural engineers.  No one felt safe, no one knew what to do… I wrote down the names of everyone I loved and stuffed it into my bra, hoping that they would find it, if I died… my thoughts:  they are going to Nuke us!  I did not hear from my husband again until 3PM when he showed up to my office.  We left my office around four, an office at last minute equipped with enough food for all employees to last seven days - a place we were advised to stay.  We walked through the crowded NYC streets feeling empty, took the Subway not knowing or caring whether we were safe underground, and crossed Hudson River via NY Waterways Ferry into Hoboken, New Jersey where everyone within a mile of the towers would be hosed down with high pressure water from head to toe - that was us.  Medical group provided us with towels and water to drink, there were some snacks too, and public busses took us home where we continued to look out the window for days, weeks, months, and years - from the smoke filled sky to the missing skyline.

Walton Howes (C '44)  I had just left breakfast at “The Place To Be”, a restaurant in Brook Park, and was headed to the Middleburg Heights Recreation Center to exercise when I heard on my car radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  I assumed that it must have been very foggy in New York because a B-25 bomber had crashed in fog into the Empire State Building in 1945.  When I heard that the weather was clear and that another plane had crashed into the second tower it was obvious that these were not accidents.  I performed my exercises, then went home and watched on TV knowing there was nothing immediate to worry about since the perpetrators were out to do the most damage with the least effort.

Stacie Hrvatin (E '83)  I work at Case Western Reserve University.  I had been there for 1 year, my previous job having been at NASA Glenn Research Center.  We had a TV that was usually on and tuned to CNN.  This particular day we didn’t as our manager wasn’t in.  He called after the first tower was hit and yelled "Turn on the TV!"  We didn’t work that day.  We were glued to the TV.  I was worried about my friends from NASA, what if they were hit?  I was worried about a friend who was an airline attendant – where was she?  I listened to the Howard Stern show all morning, it was the kind of up close and personal commentary that you just couldn’t get from other shows – they were there, they were getting reports directly from other New Yorkers.  We weren’t allowed to leave, and there was a lot of murmuring about our large foreign population, that’s how things get during an attack like this.  That evening my mother told me that the plane that was headed towards the pentagon had flown directly over Cleveland, directly over the building my brother works at downtown.  One of our neighbors had actually seen it and said it was erratic.  Later my friend told me that his uncle, who works at the pentagon, was fine.  Every American was touched by Sept.11, 2001, every single one.

Bob Johnson (E '74)  I was just getting out of the shower when the report of the first airplane hitting the WTC tower came over the "Today" program.  I remember sitting on the edge of the bed and not being able to do anything but watch the events unfold as the second tower was hit and the Pentagon was also hit.  I remember trying to connect to CNN on the web but it was so overloaded no one could get on.  Being in the Fire Service, 9-11 occupies a very deep and sad place in my heart.

Chera Kuklica  (E '91) I heard about it while working for Harbor Light Hospice.

Robert Lefkowitz (E '62)  I was in Columbus taking my youngest stepson, Tommy, to be signed in as a Midshipman at Ohio State.  We had unloaded all of Tommy's gear in his new dorm room while it was starting, and then took him over to the Naval Building for his Orientation.  When we got there, they wanted to search us, and I said to my wife, "The Navy must be putting this on for the parents."  We then talked to a Major Hunt (USMC), who had helped us with information for Tommy's acceptance into the ROTC program.  He asked us to come into his office to see the TV ... at that point the second plane attacked the World Trade Center.  After that, they had a quick introduction into the program and inducted all the students as Midshipmen at OSU.  Tommy and his classmates were signed into the Navy on 9/11/2001.  They then had a lockdown and the whole university was shut down.

Jeff Legan (E '71)  I had been "downsized" four days earlier and was sitting at home on the computer working on my resume.  My wife had been watching 'Fox & Friends' on TV and called me in to see what they were then describing as a small plane that had crashed into one of the towers.  I took a look, then went back to the computer.  She called me back shortly after that to say that there had been an explosion in the other tower.  I came back again and once it became clear what was happening, spent the next several days in front of the TV.  I will never forget the horror I felt of watching live as first one, then the other tower collapsed.

Karen Lewin (E '59)  I was teaching kindergarten at Upson Elementary School.  The whole school was in a fire safety assembly when teachers were called out and told the news.

Nick Lundskow (E '75)  I was filling in as photo editor of The Capital, the daily newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland where I am normally a staff photographer.  Both the photo editor and one of the four photographers was on vacation.  We are an afternoon paper during the week so the morning is when the paper is put together.  I was sitting at a computer when an assistant city editor came back and said that there was a report that a plane had hit the World Trade Center and to keep an eye on the AP wire for photos.  My first reaction was that it must have been a small plane.  At worst, I thought it might be like that old photo of a military plane that hit the Empire State Building decades ago.  It punched a hole in the side but really didn't cause all that much damage.  Within a few minutes I went out into the newsroom and discovered it was much worse.  We pushed back our deadline and I hoped for something on the wire better than just grab shots from TV.  I finally did get some of those images that none of us will ever forget.  Since the Pentagon is less than an hour away, and Annapolis is home to the Naval Academy and any number of military personnel, I was desperate to get a photo from the Pentagon in the paper.  Yet, AP never moved anything until well past our deadline.  Being short staffed, I didn't even have anyone to send to the Academy.  It was quite a hectic day for nearly anyone in the news business all across the country.

Dave Masek (E '95)  I was waiting for Robin to show up at my place.  We were playing tennis that morning.  When I got in the car, he told me that he heard that a plane hit a building in New York City.  I was imagining that it was a small Cessna or something and that it was just a bad accident.  When we were done playing tennis, we turned on the radio again.  Then we heard about the other planes.  When I got home, I turned on the television and just watched for a couple of hours.

Jennifer Melnyk (E '92)  I was at work when my boss' wife called the office to tell us that she had just heard that a plane had hit one of the Towers.  My first thought was that of the plane that hit the Empire State Building in the 40's ... but the weather was perfect that day so there was no reason for any error on the pilot's part.  As I called my husband to tell him of the news, he turned on the TV and saw the second plane hit.  We all knew it was no mistake - it was an act of terrorism.  My office is not too far from the New York City limits - close enough that we could smell the burning buildings for days to come.  My husband and I live in Amity Harbor, NY (Long Island) and for the following week, the first thing that people would ask was, "Did you know anyone that was lost on Sept. 11th?"

Mike Miklavcic (E '99)  I was attending a morning class at Baldwin-Wallace and a couple of students said they heard that two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center.  After class ended, I went back to my dorm room and turned on the news to see the World Trade Center in flames.  It was quite emotional that day on campus, and all afternoon and evening classes were cancelled soon after.

Roberta Minicucci (E '55)  I was at home, just 20 miles from the World Trade Center.  A friend called me to say "turn on the TV".  I was in shock and immediately thought of all of those I knew who worked there.  I couldn't imagine such an accident when the visibility was so clear.  Then the second plane hit and I knew it was no accident.  Because I lived so close to there, I thought we were all in danger.  I wanted my kids to leave work and come home.  I wanted my granddaughter out of school.  I was glued to the TV for days, it seems.  Then word went out about people who were missing.  A wonderful 22 year old man was on floor #104 when plane #2 hit.  After the first tower was hit, he'd called each of his parents and told them that he was OK and they were going to leave the building just to be safe.  Then the plane hit.  No trace of Peter has ever been found.  His big family went into the city and searched every hospital, but no Peter.  So very sad.  Months later Peter's college friends got together and built a gazebo and garden in his honor at a park in our Village.  We all mourn.  I don't think that there's any community on Long Island, NY that didn't suffer a direct loss.  It's still hard to believe that this could happen in America.  We could see the WTC burning from the bay, a mile from my home.  We could hear it when it collapsed.

David Mog (E '60)  I was at my computer in the science faculty office at Sidwell Friends School getting ready for a physics class.

Bobbi Monroe (E '58)  I was showering, getting ready for a court hearing I'd been involved with for 4 years.  My husband had gone on ahead to the hospital, but taken the time to write on the bathroom mirror, "Turn on the TV - America under attack".  What a shock it was.  Court was cancelled for the day.  I sat here glued to the TV for hours.

Robert Moskowitz (E' 68)  I was on a Northwest Airlines flight over Atlanta Hartwick at 9:15.  We were in a holding pattern.  Been in them so often over ATL, did not think anything of it.  Was going to Atlanta for the Network+Interop conference and a series of meetings.  We finally landed at 9:35.  It was one of the fastest taxing I ever had.  When the plane stopped hard at the gate and we were told we could de-plane the cell phones went on and the word spread like wildfire among the passengers.  When we got off, we saw the events on the airport monitors.  The conference was empty.  Many vendors never opened.  Microsoft rented 2 buses and bailed.  I got some work done and half the meetings were held, as we were already stuck in Atlanta away from our families.  I rented a car on the 13th and drove the 750 miles back to Detroit.

Dave Newman (S '45)  They had the TV going at the breakfast bar and I saw the live telecast of the 2nd plane at the WTC.  A short while later I was working at Antelope Hills Golf Course (Prescott, AZ) when a friend came up to say "airplanes are falling out of the sky" referring to the United flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Patrick O'Brien (E' 84)  I was an Assistant Professor at West Point teaching Aerospace Engineering.  I was just 20 miles away when they hit the towers.  The Dean immediately announced that no classes would be cancelled.  It was tough teaching that day.  Two days later, I filed a military flight plan and took a military plane down to ground zero with a couple of cadets.

Kathleen Oprian (E '02)  It was the last few minutes of my AP English class with Dr. Petrovic when Mrs. Peterson rushed in and explained that the World Trade Center had collapsed and immediately turned on CNN.  The bell rang and we went on to our next class.  Regular class topics were suspended for the rest of the day as we watched TV through every class and wondered whether or not we were going to war, and worried that the draft would be re-enacted causing us to lose classmates and family members to fight for our country.  It was a very unsettling school day as many parents, including my mom, came to take their kids out of school just in case Cleveland, or Euclid, would be next.

Branka Persic (E '85)  I was home watching the Today Show, and I thought they were showing a new movie that was coming out.  But when I realized it was not a joke I got scared.  I went to work and the managers at work put CNN on all the TV's and I just cried.  I am originally from New York City, and most of my family still lives there.  I had a cousin working in the Trade Center, but she made it out alive.  Another cousin worked down the street from the World Trade Center and he was stuck in his office.  They closed the bridge off and he slept in his office.  My family and I tried calling all of our relatives in NY and we could not get through.  It was not until late that night that we touched based with everyone, and they were all OK.  What a relief, but sad at the same time.  I do not want to go through anything like this again.

Roger Petan (E '75)  My son Aaron had turned on the TV and saw the first tower burning.  He called me in to see what was going on ... a few minutes later the second plane hit.  It didn't even occur to me that it was intentional.

Jim Phipps (E '88)  I was at my office on the phone with our distributor and he had indicated to me that a plane had hit one of the towers.  I told my boss to turn on the TV.  From that moment on through the rest of the day we sat there watching the news casts.  I believe the phone only rang one time during that day and it was from a client headquarters in British Columbia expressing their sorrow and sympathies for our country.

Tom Porter (E '51)  My wife Doris and I were vacationing in Santa Monica, CA.  We had reservations to visit the Getty Museum that morning and I had set the alarm for 6:30 AM.  When it went off, instead of music, they were talking about the plane hitting the tower.  At first I thought it was just a "drama" on the radio like we used to hear before the days of TV; when I realized it was really happening, I jumped up and turned on the TV; while we were watching in stunned horror, another plane flew into the second tower.  We were unable to get a plane, train, or bus home until the following week.  I was able to rent a car on Wednesday, but couldn't pick it up until Thursday morning, so we started home on Thursday at noon, and reached home (Mentor, OH) on Sunday at about 8 PM.

Daniela Reagan (E '95)   It was my son's first day of preschool and we had to be there at 9:30am.  We ended up leaving the house around 9:15am, and right before we left the house I switched my TV from the cartoons my son was watching over to channel 3 and saw the first tower that was struck on fire.  I remember thinking to myself, "Wow look at that building on fire."  I thought nothing more of it and turned off the TV.  I figured that it was just a big building that caught on fire and the news was just covering it.  Well, that all changed when I reached my son's school.  My son's teacher told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  Just as she told me that, the second plane hit and we all knew that it was not an accident.  I kept thinking to myself that I was glad my son was so young at the time and would not be able to understand what was going on and it was in his innocence that I found the strength to focus on his needs at the time.  When we left the school, it was all over the radio.  By the time I had reached work, we were all sent home because of everything that was going on, as well as the fact everyone was scared because the 3rd plane was in our airspace at the time.  I ended up going home and watching the news in utter disbelief.

Donald Reed (S '48)  I was working the midnight shift as a security guard and heard it on the radio about 6:20 in the morning.

Richie Rohl  (E '01) At the time the planes hit, my writing classmates and I were talking with the president of Cornell University about "Freedom and Responsibility," about how people are responsible for their actions in one way or another.  Terrorism was a big topic brought up.  After class, I went to a cancelled chemistry class to find out what had happened.  It was an eerie feeling to see happen what we had just talked about moments before.  Many classmates of mine lost parents and friends. It was a day of much consoling and tears.

Tom Ruple (E '63)  When the aircraft went into the Pentagon I was driving out of Washington National Airport.  I didn't hear the explosion, but I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a small cloud of black smoke.  At first I thought it was due to a construction fire at the Pentagon, as they were in the process of rehabilitating the building at the time of the attack.  A few seconds later I looked in the rear view mirror and the small cloud of smoke had grown considerably.  At about that time, a large number of emergency vehicles, including ambulances and fire trucks that are normally permanently at the airport in case of an emergency there, started to head toward the Pentagon.  I could see them leaving the airport with sirens going from where I was caught in traffic.

Robert K. Smith (E '68)  I was at work at the Idaho National Laboratory when a co-worker came by and said, "A plane just flew into the World Trade Center."  My first thought was of the guy who'd landed a Cessna on the White House lawn the year before so my impression was that some small plane lost control and had an accident.  They told me that there was more news on the CNN web site, but by then it was totally slammed so I couldn't connect.  After we found out what was really happening I stopped on my way home from work to donate a pint of blood.  I figured somebody would be needing it.  At dinner that night I asked my children if they remembered hearing about Pearl Harbor.  I told them that this day would be remembered like that.  Later our managing organization sent several people to help with the work at ground zero in New York.

Pamela Snyder (E '83)  I was at work and started to get phone calls from the schools to come pick up my children.

Cathy Subel (E '71)  I was teaching 6th grade math at Patrick Henry Middle School.  What a surprise and dealing with the children and their fears was certainly trying.

Joseph Tannenbaum (E '61)  I was home in Goodyear, AZ.  My son called when the first plane hit and we watched in horror as the rest happened.

Jill Taplin (E '93)  I heard about it at work while sitting at my desk.  I left work at noon to go to the dentist and then didn't return, instead taking the rest of the day off, glued to CNN.

Joyce Tianello (E '71)  I was on a bus on my way to work at KUT-FM, Austin's National Public Radio Affiliate at the University of Texas.  As always, I was listening to 'Morning Edition' on my Walkman, drifting in and out of sleep, and listening as they discussed President Bush's trip to a school in Florida.  Suddenly the news changed, and they reported that a small plane hit one of the twin towers.  They thought it was not a big deal but the story was spotty.  The news kept changing, and by the time I was off the bus it appeared to be a large plane.  After arriving at work, everyone was pretty much in shock and a TV was set up in the big conference room for us to watch and find out what was happening.  Our station did not return to regular radio programming for about a week.

Sharon Weaver (E '59)  My mother and I were on our way to the airport to visit my sister in California.  When we heard the news of grounding all planes, we called the airport to get some direction.  They told us to return to our home.  That was really a close call.

Don Whiteside (E '53)  My Euclid grad. wife (Carol Mathias Whiteside), and I were in the middle of our gym workout in San Clemente, CA when the television news broadcast pictures and commentary on the WTC debacle.  Almost immediately, we remarked, "bin laden."

Bob Williams (E '73)  I had just finished teaching my 1st period 8th grade American Studies class.  I was sitting in my room grading papers with the TV on.  Another teacher ran into my room and said to switch to the news because a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.  As we sat watching the first building burn, we saw the second plane slam into the other tower.  By this time five or six other teachers had gathered around the TV.  Words could not express the horror and anger we felt.  I spent the rest of the day trying to answer students' questions, and questions of my own.

Amy Wilson (E '82)  I was in the middle of a faculty meeting, Department of Pharmacology, Case Western Reserve University.

Barbara Wilson (S '49)  I was on the way to the grocery store and had our local public radio station on in the car.  The second tower was hit while I was watching a set in the grocery store.  Our store has a bank within it and they had turned on their monitors for everyone to see.

Kristi Zevnik (E '96)  I was at work, just about 4 blocks from the White House.  I remember hearing approximately around 9:15am that one of the WTC buildings was hit by a plane.  News spread around the office pretty quick and before we knew it the entire staff from my office was in our main Conference room watching live shots of not only one of the WTC buildings on fire, but both.  I remember receiving an e-mail from my husband around 9:45am to see if I was okay since the Pentagon had been hit.  Around 10:00am our building fire alarm went off and an announcement was made for everyone in our building to immediately evacuate.  The rumors among peers on the street were horrific.  I can remember walking down Pennsylvania Avenue hearing that a car bomb had gone off by the Washington Monument and another bomb in front of the State Department.  Additional rumors going around included that there was at least one plane still headed for the White House and an additional plane headed for the Capitol building.  The streets were filled with cars, cabs, trucks, all of which were caught up in massive gridlock.  People were everywhere on the sidewalks and Metro (DC subway system) was reported to be closed.  As I walked over the Key Bridge into Rosslyn (Arlington) from Georgetown, my co-worker and I caught a clear view of the huge black & grey clouds billowing from the Pentagon on fire.  My immediate thoughts were that "Doomsday" had arrived and that I would probably never see my newlywed husband, Rob, and my family ever again.  Eventually I reached my apartment in Courthouse (a neighborhood in Arlington) only about an hour after I left work.  As long as live, I will never forget the kindness of others during my walk from the office and the grace of God that I successfully made it home to my loving husband that day, when in fact others did not.

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Last Revised: September 04, 2008