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Vinny and Drew are OK!
. . . and so is Peter!
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On Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, motoring up the New Jersey
Turnpike, I saw a huge cloud up ahead. When I turned on the
radio, I entered the most surreal experience of my life.
As my mind assimilated the reports, I started thinking of people
I knew who might be involved. The first two were Vinny
Panaro and Drew Richards. For the next several days,
it seemed as though the world was not answering the phone, but
finally I learned that both are OK. (DCW)
Vinny Panaro, a NYC Firefighter stationed in Queens, was one
of the first to arrive at the World Trade Center. According to
Mark Levasseur, Vinny was in the Tower lobby when the shaking
began. He managed to escape in time, though he was showered with
debris. (Read Vinny's own words.)
Drew Richards works for Saloman Smith Barney, the largest single
tenant of the World Trade Center towers, but his office is in the
Travelers Building 6-7 blocks away. His Mom, 'Liz, reports that
Drew was emerging from the subway just in time to witness the beginning of the horror.
In the afermath, he spent a few days at his family home in Putney.
Here are extracts from a note from Vinny Panaro:
"Thank you so much for calling to see if I was OK. I responded to the World Trade Center early Tuesday morning. I said goodbye to my family and I didn't come home until Thursday at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I am exhausted and broken. Mark [Levasseur] called me to tell me how people had called you to see if I was OK. ... I was one in only a handful of firefighters who survived, not because I was better. Just because of luck. Better people than me died that day. As always it is wonderful to know who your friends really are ... . Its people and close friends ... that have made me draw strength.
Sincerely, Vince"
Vince Panaro
249-22 Beech Knoll Ave.
Little Neck, NY 11362
Here are two e-mail messages, both happen to be from Germany. They exemplify the support we have around the world at this difficult time.
"My sympathy and thoughts are by the sacrifices of the awful terror in United States.
We stay by your side!
Your friend Frank from Germany" [Skijump.collector@freenet.de]
"all ski-friends from Wintersportverein Grüna are in deepest mourning
about this terrible and unbelievable act of terror in your country! We
remember on the victims and stand by your side!
All members of WSV Grüna." [jj.skiarchiv@gmx.de]
Saved by an Economical Nature
In Lake Placid during the Flaming Leaves weekend, Pete Mikkelson mentioned that he came very close to being a passenger on one of the doomed flights out of Boston on Sept. 11.
In the end, he found a considerably lower priced flight out of Providence, RI, reminding us the real meaning of the word "providence".
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