Sheila Moran ~Broker Bits~: Remembering today 9/11 ~ The lives, my family and The Twin Towers

Remembering ~ The lives, my family and the Twin Towers

Back in October of 2001 I wrote some of the following in a Newsletter to my sphere.  Yes, back in the day (before Active Rain) we REALTORS wrote Newsletters!  This is some part of the Newsletter that as I look back on it I just thought I would share.

THE LIVES

I won't share the disbelief as all of that was unfolding on national television as I know so many of us have our own story.  I just wanted to make mention that I know those that were taken that day will not be forgotten.

MY FAMILY

First off, I have 3 New York City Fire Fighter's (well, they were back in 2001) Cousins that were on duty that atrocious day.  I would like to Thank them again for their work that day (as well as every other day) protecting our citizens and property.  They are:

Brian Donovan, Engine 275, S. Jamaica, Queens, NY

Michael Donovan, Station 290, Brooklyn, NY (promoted to Captain and moved to the Commissioners office that same week)

John Wolfe, Staten Island, NY, Jewett Avenue Fire Station

Not just them, but all Fire Fighters as well as Military, Police and other public servants of our great Nation.

One cousin has a particular story of being in charge and sending his entire crew up into the building and none of them returning.  It's so hard to hear someone talk about such a thing.  I can't even image being in his shoes.

THE TWIN TOWERS

I have fond memories as a child of the Twin Towers in New York City.  As a child I used to spend my summers visiting my grandparents in Staten Island.  My Grandfather's office was located in the Towers and I remember how excited I was to walk into that building.  As a short kid it sure was something like I had never seen growing up in San Antonio, Texas.

Before my grandfather passed away in 2002 I sat down with him and interviewed him on a few things in life.  See my Grandfather, Richard Decker was a Chief Engineer for Moran Transportation & Towing which back in the day was located in NY, NY.  He worked there from 1943 until his retirement (which I guess to be around the 1980's or so).  He would tell me stories about working on the tug boat out in the Hudson River carefully navigating larger ships in and out of the waters. 

The following is a remembrance that he had about the Towers being built (interview conducted roughly October 2001).

"I would drive my car from Staten Island to Journal Square and take the Hudson Tube to Moran Transportation and Towing Company.  The office was located in Tower 2 until about 10 years ago when they relocated to Connecticut.

I would "tie-up" at the old piers in New York City about the time that the excavation on Tower 1 was beginning.  You could look down in the enormous hole (about 5 stories deep) and see the subway trains exposed under the ground.  When the construction was first stared, wreckage of ancient sailing ships were discovered under water.  The elevators in the Twin Towers could go about 60 miles per hour.  My nephew, Tommy Donovan worked for Otis Elevator who installed the elevators.  My son-in-law, Harold Christiansen also helped in the building of the towers.  The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world until the Towers were built around 1972 or so.

One particular time I took my granddaughter, Sheila Moran (about 4-5 years old) to the "city" and I took her to the Twin Towers to show her where I worked.  I can remember that they had a dancer in the foyer of the towers and Sheila watched the entertainment and sat on the edge of the steps dangling her little legs.  That was about 30 years ago. "

I don't have any video to share.  Just some words from an 82 year old man before he passed about certain memories that he had.

I hope you don't mind me sharing.

God bless America and the people that fight every day for our freedom!