Newsmaker Profile #5: 9/11 Families
Courage. Strength. Love. Hope. Honor. These are some of the words that define a generation of survivors; those families who lost loved ones during the attacks of September 11, 2001. Since that time, babies have been born, elders have died, life has gone on and legacy has been formed but memory, however distant, has not dimmed. Visitors the world over come to visit the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to feel and to honor, yet the families of the fallen need only visit their own hearts to remember and cherish.
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Making Triumph of Tragedy
Chief among the most visible 9/11 families are the Sillers. On September 11, Firefighter Stephen Gerard Siller of Park Slope, Brooklyn's Squad 1, was ending the late shift and on his way to play golf when the first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. After calling his wife, he drove to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel hoping to get through quickly and join the fight. The tunnel was already closed to traffic, so Siller strapped on 60 pounds of gear and raced through on foot. Last seen on Liberty and West Street, he never made it home that day. Siller left behind his wife, five children and a stalwart cadre of siblings, cousins and friends. Determined that his death would not be in vain, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation holds a fundraising race and retraces his footsteps every year on the last Sunday of September. The Foundation also spearheads a multitude of fundraising events and supports the needs of first responders, their families as well as all New Yorkers. The Foundation provides funding for smart homes for severely wounded war veterans, was pivotal to the Hurricane Sandy clean up and helped raise funds for the families of police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos gunned down in their squad car in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, 2014.
In Honor and In Memory
Fourteen years later, loved ones still struggle to make sense of a senseless tragedy that for many, seems like just yesterday.
"I remember being stuck at school and not being able to get home," says Connor Whelan, now 19 years old and a college student. "It was night by the time we got back to Brooklyn and my mother was crying," he remembers, being six years old when the Towers fell, adding, "No one knew where my cousin Eugene was." Firefighter Eugene Whelan, along with so many others, lost his life that day. Part of a large family, Eugene's brothers, sisters and parents would go on to mourn him and to honor his legacy through their deep Catholic faith and love of country. Eugene was Connor and twin sister Caitlin's first baby sitter. The two, now grown, would often reference his resilience and its effect on their own sense of morality and commitment to country. "I think of him often because to me, he represents what it means to be a hero, and an American. He gave his life for others and for his country," Connor says.
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Corey Whelan is a freelance writer in New York. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.
