On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was teaching English at Fillmore Central High School in Harmony, Minn. That morning, underclassmen were getting their pictures taken for the yearbook, and my students had been dismissed to the old gym, where the pictures were taken.  When one of my students returned to the classroom, she told me that a tower went down in New York City.  … [Read more...]

Since 9/11/2001 was a Tuesday, I was getting ready to go to the Fillmore County Board Commissioners meeting. I briefly noticed on the Today Show that something had occurred in New York City. When I arrived at the courthouse, several employees and a couple other county commissioners were in the coordinator’s office watching the Today Show on a small TV.  It had been determined … [Read more...]

My wife Carol and I were visiting our son and his family in the Memphis, Tenn., area and were about to check out of our motel as we were on our way to St. Louis, Mo., to attend a U.S. Air Force reunion. The first we heard of the tragedy was that a small plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers.  Soon after that we learned that it had been an airline … [Read more...]

It hardly seems possible that it’s been 20 years since the September atrocity.  My “where was I” story started at the hospital in Faribault. I was in for gall bladder surgery that day. When they finished operating on me and wheeled me out I heard a TV someplace telling about an airplane crashing into a building. I was still loopy from the anesthesia so it didn’t make sense.  A … [Read more...]

That morning started with getting my husband’s 80-year-old sister on a 6 a.m. direct flight from Great Falls, Mont., (where we lived) back to Orlando, Fla., (where Emma lived - she had been visiting us for two weeks). No TV in our shop with the dangerous equipment, was our rule. The phone starts ringing - it is Emma’s sons immediately shouting “WHERE IS MOM?!!!” “What?” … [Read more...]

September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday just like any other and only a few days in to my fifth grade year at Kingsland Elementary School in small town Spring Valley, Minn. I remember it was still early in the morning, the sun shining through our eastern facing windows between the tree branches and the blinds, and my class was working on either a test or an assignment, all of us … [Read more...]

September 11, 2001, started as usual then turned into a day like none other. I was a city carrier for USPS in Stewartville at the time. The postmaster received a phone call while we were all in the office casing mail and sorting parcels for the day, about the first tower. He turned the TV on while we all listened in stunned silence as we went about our duties. Once I started … [Read more...]

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was preparing to leave the hospital in Rochester with my newborn daughter. She was born two days prior on September 9 and we were filled with excitement to have a new child joining our other two children at home. As I was packing my bag and getting ready to take my baby home, I had a morning news show on the television and they showed … [Read more...]

Dave and I were in Collierville, Tenn., to visit our son Troy, his wife Mary Beth and our five grandchildren.  Because of the attack we were able to take care of our 9-month-old granddaughter Annalise and our 4-year-old grandson Phillip while Troy and Mary Beth, Will - 11, Thomas - 9 and John - 7 went to Mass to pray for our country and its citizens.  It was a tragic event … [Read more...]