Cate Faculty Stories: 9-11 Attack

By Karina Strofs '27

This year marked the 24th anniversary of the attack on September 11, 2001. On that day, two planes hit the World Trade Center, another plane struck the Pentagon, and a fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. 

Annually, on September 11th, people in the U.S. remember the nearly 3,000 people killed during the attacks, as well as acknowledge how the attacks continue to impact the United States. It is also a time to listen to stories of how that day directly affected those who are connected to this community. 

At Cate, the faculty’s remarkable stories offer a personal lens into the events of September 11, allowing the community to understand the lasting human impact of that day beyond the facts one can find on the internet. As a clarification, these faculty opted into this article via a form that was sent out to everyone. None of these faculty members was chosen for a story more “notable” than the other, but instead, each of them volunteered generously to share their stories. 

Story 1: Shannon Drew

“I was in my psychology class in 10th grade. Our teacher turned on the radio (yes, I’m that old) and we thought it was a psychology lesson of some sort. She then rolled in the TV (again, yes that old) and we were still in disbelief that it was real. We watched the news coverage all day in school. Our school stayed open but many around us closed early. I was three hours outside the city with a cousin in Manhattan. It was terrifying because no one knew what was coming next. Cell phones were minimal at the time so it was hard to get in touch with family and friends. Everyone was glued to the TV for days.”

Story 2: Mx. LaMontagne

“I was home with my baby daughter (who was 11 months old at the time), and I first noticed something was odd when my usual radio program wasn't on. I turned on the TV to find out what was happening, and I think both planes had hit at that point, but neither tower had fallen. I remember being glad that my daughter was too young to understand what was happening. We lived in Illinois at that point, and I remember trying to search the internet to see if we were possibly near any potential targets. I went outside to look at the sky, which seems silly now, but it just felt so strange. It all felt very surreal.

I called my husband at work to tell him what was happening, and he didn't know about it yet, but he didn't understand how big of a deal it was so he was confused by why I was calling. Then, I was watching TV when the first tower fell (and the second), and it was unlike anything else I've seen. Maybe the most similar was that I was watching live when the Challenger space shuttle exploded—for some reason I didn't have school that day and was home alone and happened to be watching it. It's very unreal to watch the loss of life happening on television—it's devastating and also it feels surreal. It's like you have this awareness that you are witnessing a historic event, and there's a distance from it because it's on tv, but there's also the realness of it. Also, it was scary because we didn't know what was next. I have cousins in D.C. and I worried about them. 

(A side story: My stepsister was having her first child in Atlanta that day—she was watching what was happening while in labor. Her last name is Finch (like Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird), and she named her daughter Harper (after Harper Lee). A year after the attacks, the Atlanta paper had an article about 9/11 babies that featured my niece, and Harper Lee saw the article. She was known to be very reclusive, but she was moved by the article and ended up sending a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird to baby Harper.)

I was glued to the news for days. I remember all of the missing people posters put up in NYC. I remember seeing home video clips of the planes hitting the towers. I remember learning about the people who jumped before the towers fell. 

I flew on a plane to visit family in Florida on either Sept 14 or 15th (I can't remember exactly anymore). I didn't feel scared then—it was probably the safest I've felt flying because everyone was being so careful and thorough. My daughter learned to walk that week. It was a reminder that life continues even when the world goes insane.”

Story 3: Rebekah Barry

“I was working on-site at the Pentagon for the Air Force Long Range Planning, Strategy and Policy Division (AF/XPXS) on September 11th. Because I was working in what is called a SCIF (pronounced ‘skiff,’ essentially a classified area) upon impact there was protocol that had to be followed in terms of securing/destroying classified material prior to evacuation. In terms of leaving the building, you have to remember that the Pentagon is massive, and it is also a maze, so getting out is not exactly simple. I exited via the emergency exit on the 5th corridor side of impact, stepping out into glass, debris, and significant smoke and noxious gases, crossing in front of where the plane crashed, where there was a huge plume of thick, black smoke and ash raining down on us (there were concerns about a chemical/biological weapon, although that did not prove to be the case). I ultimately made my way to the South Parking Lot, which was the emergency meet-up point for XPXS. All of my office was accounted for; however, the Air Force did lose colleagues that day (22, I believe). One thing that folks may not know is that the loss of life was lessened because the plane impacted a section of the building that was being remodeled and so only partially occupied. However, another aspect that is worth noting is that many of us who were there have long-term respiratory, cancer, and other health issues — a factor that is also true of those exposed in NYC.”

Story 4: Wade Ransom

“Tuesdays were new record days at my favorite record shop, Satellite Records, located on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan. As I did every Tuesday morning during my DJ residency at Club Exit in NYC, I was heading to Chinatown in Lower Manhattan from New Jersey. As the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I was in my car on the approach to the Holland Tunnel. Thinking it was an accident, I quickly turned on the radio in my car for updates. Within moments, emergency vehicles of all types rushed into the tunnel from the Jersey side, and I got off the approach and turned around to go home. By the time I got home, the second tower had been hit, and it was clear this was not an accident. I had flashbacks to learning about the WTC bombing in 1993 while I was in my high school Anatomy and Physiology class, while contemplating how many friends would be in the towers at that time of day on a Tuesday. I returned home in time to turn on the TV and witness the towers collapse in an unthinkable moment of horror. As the firefighters left from the station that was next door to my house, it was clear our lives would be changed forever. There was an overwhelming sense of wanting to help, but it took several hours to figure out just what that would look like. With so many friends and neighbors stuck in the city, the initial hours were spent trying to locate and account for friends and loved ones, battling patchy cell phone service every step of the way. With good friends who worked in the towers, and many close connections to fire and police, it was important to me to check in with people I knew. As I always do in moments of crisis, I cooked. I cooked many meals for friends and strangers alike. Dropping food off at homes, fire houses, EMS stations and police departments. My housemates and I just cooked and cooked while texting and calling all the people we knew to learn about their location and if they needed help getting home from the city.  In the coming days, we would find different ways to help support the recovery efforts at Ground Zero, take care of the first responders from our town who valiantly headed to Lower Manhattan, and offer comfort to the many friends and family that were affected by the collapse. The events surrounding the 9/11 tragedy and the aftermath are firmly etched into my sense of being, and have left me forever changed.”

Story 5: Gretchen Adams

“I was in high school in my first period pre-calc class. I remember vividly that the news was delivered by a guy who was always joking around in class, and none of us took it very seriously. At the time, the idea of something like this happening was so far-fetched. At first I assumed he was just joking around as usual. As first period ended, and 2500 students emptied into the hallway for passing period, the buzz increased. I assumed it was a small-scale accident, and perhaps a little plane had clipped a wing into a corner of the building, or an antenna or something similar. When I arrived to second period Advanced English class, it became real. The second tower had been struck. There was an ancient radio in the classroom for whatever reason—the kind with knob dials and decorative fabric over the speakers. The teacher switched it on, and there we were—a classroom of high school juniors in 2001, listening to a major news event on a radio from another era. My third period class was AP US History. The teacher, Mr. Korfist, took us all down to the football film room in the basement of the school and turned on CNN. I remember he said he would take the fall for anyone who wanted to stay and watch the news instead of going to class for the rest of the day, as this was a major historic event (obviously, he was right about this). 

As the day went on, there was speculation about possible concurrent attacks on other major cities. My dad worked in a tall building in Chicago. The downtown area was evacuated. The commuter trains were packed and running behind, just like you'd imagine. My mom ran the local newspaper, and she was at work all day trying to get more information. The thing was—this was all before the internet, really. Before everyone had a cell phone. Interpersonal communication and the distribution of news was COMPLETELY different than it is now. My parents had left a message on our home answering machine to let us know they were both safe and when they would be home. 

I was deeply devoted to ballet at the time, so I went straight to class and rehearsals as usual. The company director was typically a man of few words. That evening, he gave a quietly passionate speech on the importance of the arts and the duty of artists during times of war and chaos. He had defected from the Soviet Union, and rarely alluded to his own experience. That speech stayed with me for the rest of my life. I was sixteen on that day. So much has changed since then. Yet so much has remained--looking around at high school kids, at the students of Cate, it makes me happy to know that while so much is in a state of unrest, friendship, love, and learning are everywhere, just like they were in 2001.”

Story 6: Will Holmes

“It was my first year at Cate and I was a faculty member on the Kern trip. Lisa (Holmes) and I had just moved from New York City at the end of June. On Tuesday evening of Outings week, one of the faculty members crossed paths with a park ranger who told them something had happened in New York City. We had limited information when the faculty gathered in the Henry's Camp cabin that Wednesday evening. The number of fatalities and what exactly occurred were unclear. What we knew was that we needed to, as always, lead the juniors out of the wilderness on Friday morning. When we got to about 30 minutes from the trail head, we found a shaded spot for our pod to circle up. The other faculty member, who was a Cate alum and had been working at Cate for some time, led the explanation of what we had learned about Tuesday's terrible events. I had a dramatically different experience from my friends and family members having been out in the wilderness instead of watching television and the tragic fall of the twin towers.”

These stories shared by the Cate faculty members highlight the extremely wide range of experiences across the country on a personal level during September 11th, 2001. Each story reflects a different perspective, illustrating how the same event shaped lives in different ways. Acknowledging these stories within the Cate community is important in order to remember that history is not only factual but also emotional, carried in memories of those nearby. By listening to these memories, the community can gain a deeper understanding of the lasting impact of a very important event in history.