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BRIAN CALLERY REMEMBERS 911! Whew, what a memory! At first | thought a small aircraft had wandered off course and inadver- tently smacked into a skyscraper... it had happened before... and since. Then my staff suggested | come out. of a meeting and see what was happen- ing on the office TV! | will never forget watching the second airliner veer in a crescent- type turn and pierce the second World Trade Center tower. | had been to that building in 1981! At first | was bewildered, then shocked, then fear and sorrow set in for the innocent people that were just. going about their daily lives, making a living for their families! Then anger! | am still angry! These eee never hurt anybody... who were cowards that would do such a ng | believe we were all in a daze for a few days, trying to figure it out. A dose of reality hit me when | arrived home from work early, a day or so later. One of my neighbours was puttering around in his yard and | asked him why he would be home early — he works in the city! He just looked at me and explained he had no work to go to. He worked for Kantor-Fitzgerald out of New York and his entire company and co-workers had been rubbed out by the first jet that hit the towers! | could go on with follow-up thoughts and stories if space allowed but just let me say that | will never for- get September 11, 2001. 40 FOCUS - SEPTEMBER 2011 Continued from page 4 en sat and watched in disbelief as the scene unfolded before their eyes glued to the television. It wasn’t long before she started to worry about her friends, so she picked up her phone and started calling. No one answered. It was at this, point she started to become concerned, since all nine of her friends worked for Cantor-Fitzgerald, a large financial institution that operated from the 101st to 105th floors, in tower one of the World Trade Center. Unable to contact any of them, she was finally able to reach an acquain- tance who worked in an adjacent building to the towers. He informed her that he had been told to stay in the building, but Pam urged him to get out as quickly as possible. In her client’s room, they continued to watch in horror as the second tower was hit by another airliner. It was at this point they decided to leave the hotel. Exiting from the lobby onto Fifth Avenue, they were stunned to see cars, trucks and pedestrian traffic had come to a complete standstill on a street that is one of New York City’s busiest and most congested. People were getting out of their cars in shock, while others stood staring at a column of black smoke billowing over top of the buildings many blocks away. More confused and frightened people craned their necks upward to watch a large television screen, on one of the buildings, which was showing the disaster as it unfolded. “People just stood there in silent disbelief,” she recalls. As the magnitude of the tragedy became more evident, people began to look for ways to help. Expecting there would be a great need for blood, many started walking towards a hospital a few blocks away, unaware that there would be little need for blood, since most of those in the towers would die. In the hours that followed, Pam recalls dozens of low flying jets flying over the city patrolling the skies. “The sounds of jets scare me to this day,” she says. “We kept thinking it was more terrorists coming to crash their jets ~ it was really terrifying.” But she’s proud of how the city pulled together and speaks highly of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was there throughout the ordeal, provid- ing support and hope for everyone “We kept thinking it was more terrorists coming to crash their jets — it was really terrifying”... Pam Hollett and attending most, if not all, of the funerals for firefighters and rescue personnel. Cross volunteers, firefighters from out of state or country, rescue workers and thousands of citizens pitched in to help day after day, Providing meals, clothing, water, comfort, support and sleeping accommodatio: Pam can’t remember exactly, but thinks it was probably two or three days before she realized she had lost all of her “Hampton” friends. Those nine men and women were among the 658 I f the firm Cantor-Fit: Id that lost their lives when tower one came crashing down in a giant plume of dense, grey dust. “T have no idea how many funerals I attended in the days following the terrorist attacks.” Pam says, “I attended so many funerals — often many in one day — for my friends, firefighters and emergency workers.” It was during the time she was assisting near the site that she met a Cana- dian rescue worker who would later become her husband. After he left New York City to return to his home in Toronto, they kept in touch by phone and frequent visits for more than a year. They married in New York City in 2003 and immediately moved to Toronto. Two years later, on a trip to visit friends