NEW YORK–Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks upon the United States. For those old enough to remember, the day is one of those rare “I remember where I was” moments” that are never forgotten, and that includes for many in credit unions who are sharing their stories and recollections here.
At the invitation of the CU Daily, people from across the credit union community have shared their recollections, below, of where they were and what they remember.
For family members who lost loved ones, Sept. 11, 2001, is a day of tragedy they will always mourn. For all Americans, as well as for many people in other parts of the world, what has become universally known as “9/11” was traumatic, emotional and fear-inducing, and for many CU leaders there was nothing in the training manual or league educational programs that could provide much help in how to respond to such a harrowing development and what to say to staff and members.
Much More Immediate
For some in credit unions, what is often described as the most photographed day in history was much more immediate than something to be viewed on TV or online. On that Tuesday a quarter-century ago, XCEL FCU, which serves employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, had an office located inside the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. Municipal Credit Union was located just blocks away from the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
In Washington, PenFed operated a branch inside the Pentagon. In both cases, employees of the credit unions all escaped unharmed, and XCEL FCU would eventually relocate its offices across the Hudson to New Jersey. And credit unions serving United Airlines lost members when Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.
Many of the nearly 3,000 people who died that day were credit union members, or the family members or friends of many who worked in credit unions.
Below, readers of the CU Daily share their recollections of where they were on Sept. 11.
Just a Few Moments Away
I was at 2 Rector Street, Lower Manhattan. Just a couple of minutes’ walk to the South Tower. Lost many friends/business associates that day. A friend was “supposed” to be the pilot of Flight 93 out of Boston. They made a movie about that flight, and another friend was the leading character they portrayed.
–Steve Wofford, CEO, Kohl Analytics Group
Friend Calls and Says ‘Turn on the TV’
My best friend called me in Alaska and woke me up. Told me to turn on the TV! Called me back to be sure I knew it wasn’t a prank.
I turned on the tube, woke the family, and had the three kids and bride watch the news. First time I can recall telling my kids, “Life can be very scary, and right now, we are safe. But we don’t know what all is happening.” I recall telling the kids they will remember this day very clearly. Kids were 12, 10, 9.
I was working in Juneau, Alaska. When I showed up at the office, I huddled the team and we talked about how we were feeling. One of the tellers said, “can we say a prayer, or something…” It was the first time I remember praying with my coworkers. It was an impactful and emotional day.
–William Peters, Fractional COO
‘Little Did We Know’
I was in South Portland Maine, working at a credit union literally feet from the (airport) runway. Little did we know at the time the terrorists stayed overnight at the hotel less than a mile away from our office.
–Daniel Clarke, president and CEO, Maine Family FCU
Called Back to the Pentagon
I was the newly assigned Chief of Comptroller War Plans at the Pentagon. However, I was at Langley AFB, VA that day planning the next Air Expeditionary Cycle. I was immediately recalled back to the Pentagon and remember walking into a burning building to start non-stop 14-hour shifts, 7 days a week, as part of the Air Force Crisis Action Team.
The pace and stress on my young family (my youngest daughter was born a few days before 9/11) didn’t let up until additional personnel were made available after about 2.5 months. All while my wife held EVERYTHING together at home with little outside help–another story!
However, we had a job to do and global mission to accomplish.
Today, we have a similar sense of duty when it comes to defending credit unions.
–Anthony R. Hernandez, president and CEO, Defense CU Council and retired U.S. Air Force colonel.
The First Day of Our Exam
I heard about the plane crash on my way to work at the credit union. No one knew then that the plane was a commercial airplane. It was the first day of our NCUA exam. When I got to the office we brought the break room TV, which was on a TV stand with rollers, into the accounting department.
Together, with the NCUA examiners that were there, we watched all the events evolve that day. I’ll never forget it or the examiners that were there with us.
–Becky Reed, financial services strategist
Many Were Not in Credit Unions at the Time
As concerns about aging membership and leadership continue, it’s important to remember that many of those coming up through the ranks, and also those we’re trying to meaningfully connect with to consider a local CU, were not immersed in their careers at the time of 9/11, or even old enough to recognize it as “A Moment.”
I was in high school. We knew something had happened, but the school instructed all teachers to turn off TVs and not talk about it at all. My AP English teacher felt this was nonsense, as it was, and we watched footage and news of the day’s events. Few knew really what to think, and you had a combination of teenagers being teenagers, making jokes of it, and others intently focused on the news–at a time when news meant reporting on what was happening.
Those of us in that English class recognized pretty quickly that this was a Big Deal, and decided there were no more relevant classes that day because this was Historic and Important.
Of course, the image of the smoking towers and Pentagon are ingrained forever.
What sticks with me the most is the connection we felt, how “rude New Yorkers” supported each other, and that the unity we had that day was what the country represented at its best.
–Joseph Winn, president, Green Profit Solutions
‘No One Knew Why it Was Happening’
I was on a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Baltimore to meet with business partners. Upon arrival at about 9:00 a.m., the airport was in the process of shutting down. Nobody there knew why it was happening.
I hopped in a cab, gave him the address, and asked if he had heard anything. He hadn’t and the radio station he was listening to was not giving any info. I assumed it might have been some sort of security alert but, in all honesty, didn’t give it much thought.
Upon arrival at the partners office, staff was buzzing about something. They had taken out an old TV with rabbit ears from a closet, set it up on a desk, and turned it on. We could hear the narrator speaking about a crash, but the picture was fuzzy. We finally manually cleared up the reception and all saw the live feeds of the crash from New York, including the second plane hitting the second tower.
We all were stunned, and several staff people were crying and desperately trying to reach friends and family by phone in New York. With the very real possibility that our nation was under attack, a business meeting was not the priority.
Everything had changed.
No flights, buses, nor rental cars. I did finally find my way home a week later, and happy to be re-united with my loved ones.
–Keith Winn, partner, principal, Green Profit Solutions
Moments When Five Minutes Change Everything
There are moments in life when five minutes mean nothing. And there are moments when five minutes change everything.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, five minutes changed my life. At the time, I was living in New Jersey and working in New York. I was with IBM, supporting New York Life Insurance (NYLI) in Manhattan. Most days, I worked from New York Life. Occasionally, I needed to go downtown to the IBM office at the World Trade Center. That morning was supposed to be one of those days.
My normal journey involved taking the train from New Jersey into New York and then continuing downtown by subway. But that morning, I was running late. My young son was being settled into daycare, and something as ordinary as a few extra minutes with him delayed me by about five minutes.
I missed my train.
That small delay created a chain of events I could never have imagined. Because I was already behind schedule, I changed my plans. Instead of following my normal route downtown, I took a bus into New York and ultimately walked toward the New York Life office.
Then everything changed. News began spreading that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. Then came the second plane. Then the realization that America was under attack.
Like millions of people, I struggled to comprehend what was happening. But for me, there was another terrifying realization. I was supposed to have been going there that morning. People I knew were there.
IBM colleagues and leaders were affected. People traveling through the transportation system that morning never made it to their destinations. Some people I knew would never come home.
Twenty-five years later, it is still difficult to describe the emotions of that day. Shock. Confusion. Fear. Grief. And, for me, an overwhelming concern about one person: my son. He was still at daycare in New Jersey.
Transportation out of Manhattan had largely stopped. Phone networks were overwhelmed. Calls often would not connect. I kept trying the daycare. Again. And again. No connection. As a parent, few things are more frightening than knowing your child is somewhere else and having no way to reach him.
Yet amid one of the darkest days I have ever witnessed, I also saw something extraordinary. I saw New York become one community. Titles disappeared. Companies disappeared. Backgrounds disappeared.
For those hours, people were simply people helping other people. New York Life opened its cafeteria and facilities to people who needed somewhere to gather. Businesses and shop owners came outside offering whatever they had. People shared food. Water. Phones when they worked. Directions. Information. Sometimes just reassurance.
Help from Strangers
Strangers asked one another: “Are you OK?” “Do you need help?” “Where are you trying to get to?”
Nobody asked which company you worked for. Nobody asked where you came from. Nobody asked what you could do for them in return. I saw a city under attack refuse to surrender its humanity.
Eventually, word spread that limited transportation was beginning to move toward New Jersey. When one of the trains finally became available, volunteers and transit workers helped people board and get home.
I will never forget that journey. I had no idea what I would find when I reached New Jersey.
When I was finally reunited with my son, something inside me changed permanently. For years afterward, I thought about those five minutes. Why was I late? Why did I miss that train? Why did I change my route?
Life Provides No Answer
There are questions like these for which life provides no answer. And perhaps we are not supposed to find one.
Instead, I choose to remember something else. I remember the colleagues and innocent people who left home that morning expecting an ordinary Tuesday and never returned. I remember the firefighters, police officers, emergency workers, medical professionals, transit workers, volunteers, and ordinary citizens who ran toward danger when every instinct must have told them to run away.
I remember businesses opening their doors. I remember strangers becoming neighbors. I remember New Yorkers helping one another walk home when there were no trains.
And I remember seeing, firsthand, something that no act of terrorism could destroy: the spirit of America.
Humanity at its Worst–and Best
September 11 showed us humanity at its worst. But in the hours and days that followed, it also showed us humanity at its very best. It showed us that resilience is not simply rebuilding buildings.
Resilience is rebuilding confidence when the world suddenly feels unsafe. It is helping a stranger without being asked. It is opening your doors when others have nowhere to go. It is choosing courage over fear, service over self-interest, and community over division.
Twenty-five years later, the skyline of New York is different. Our world is different. And all of us who lived through that day are different.
But there is one thing I hope we never allow to change: the brotherhood and humanity that emerged from those terrible hours.
Today, I remember the people we lost. I remember my colleagues. I remember the families whose lives changed forever. I remember the first responders and countless ordinary people who became extraordinary when their city needed them. And I remain profoundly grateful for the five minutes that allowed me to return home to my son.
May we honor those who never had that opportunity not only by remembering how they died— but by remembering how, in the face of unimaginable tragedy, Americans came together and helped one another live.
We will never forget.
–Ashish Chopra, author, futurist, thought leaders, speaker.
A Schedule Change Changes Everything
I was scheduled to speak at an economic seminar at the Windows on the World the morning of Sept. 11th. One week earlier, the event had been rescheduled for a later date. So, instead of being on the 106th floor of the North Tower at 8:30am on Sept.11th, I was in my Dallas office. I, too, lost many friends that day.
Brian Turner, president, chief economist, Meridian Economics
Looking at the Sky Differently Now
On 9/11 I was at my credit union. As we learned what was happening we didn’t have a TV. Our CEO’s husband brought us a TV with an antenna so we could stay updated. I remember it being so oddly quiet and somber in the office. Everyone, both members and staff, were stunned and barely speaking as we all tried to process what we were seeing.
My son was in college living in Pittsburgh at the time. When I heard about the plane circling near Pittsburgh I was panicking. He was evacuated from his apartment, sent to the parking garage. As soon as I could, I headed for Pittsburgh to pick him up. As I drove, the absence of planes in the air due to the no-fly order made me wonder if it really was as ominous as it felt that day to see nothing but clouds in the sky. I tried to remember whether I would normally be seeing planes near the airport or whether it really was as ominous as it felt.
At that time, we didn’t know where the threat was coming from. Was it just planes or were there bombs, etc.? Because he was in a parking garage and cellphone towers were overwhelmed, there was a period of time–an eternity it seemed–that I couldn’t communicate with my son. I pictured every worst-case scenario in what was probably only a few minutes.
Thankfully, I was able to retrieve him and bring him home with me. I learned in the coming days that many mothers weren’t so lucky. I don’t know how anyone could ever forget what happened that day. I have never looked at planes in the sky without remembering.
–Joy Peterson, CEO, Switch Federal Credit Union
‘Are You Serious?’
I was emceeing and hosting a credit union conference in Miami, Florida, with several-hundred people in attendance, when I received a call on my Blackberry from my sister, who was a travel agent (remember those?)
“Did you hear about the plane hitting the World Trade Center?” she asked.
To be honest, it sounded like the way a joke might begin. I told her I had not and soon learned there was no punchline to follow. She shared the news of the attack and I stepped out of the meeting room and walked to the hotel lobby where a crowd had already gathered around a TV that has been tuned to CNN. There, I learned a second plane had struck another tower by 9:45 in the morning, and yet another had hit the Pentagon. The word “surreal” is often overused, but it’s the only way to describe that morning.
My sister called again, this time with news that all flights were being grounded.
I stepped back into the meeting room, hesitated, and then took to the stage. This was in the days before smartphones, so the news had not spread as quickly and widely as it would today. But some people had heard, and there was a woman near the front of the room whom I could hear quietly crying (I would learn later she had a husband who worked in the city) as I stepped to the podium. I can still see the perplexed expression on the face of the keynoter speaking to the session as she paused and gave me a baffled “What are you doing?” look.
I announced to the room that there had been several airplane crashes that morning that were believed to be terrorist-related and that all flights were grounded. As nearly everyone was from out of town, I said we would be “pausing” the meeting so they could check on the status of their own travel.
I shall never forget the hushed quiet of that hotel meeting room as people looked to each other and tried to process this sudden, tragic, incomprehensible news, this U-turn in their realities, and the uncertainty of what they had just been told. I can still hear one man’s solitary voice in the room as he called out to me, “Are you serious?”
No one immediately jumped from their seats. There was no turning to your phone for an update. OK, flights were being grounded, and there might be some delays, but planes would be back in the air by the afternoon, right?
Wrong.
We would, of course, cancel the meeting.
I was fortunate in that I lived in South Florida at the time and had driven to the meeting. Like tens to thousands of others around the country—and the world—many CU attendees were soon fending for themselves when it came to finding a way home in a world with no air flights. It’s largely forgotten now, but rental car fleets across the country were soon fully rented and lots were empty; there was no inventory to be had. If it had a steering wheel, an engine and seats—and the latter wasn’t a deal-breaker—it was soon on a one-way drive to some point on the map. Even used cars were being snapped up.
I would learn later that 10 or so attendees at the meeting pooled their resources and one credit union bought a passenger van that had been repo’d by a Miami-area credit union. It was soon full of credit union folks and their luggage, and over the next few days they would all bond over the shared experience and a new world as the van snaked its way all the way to New Mexico, dropping people off along the way.
The credit union that had purchased the van eventually sold it after the trip had concluded.
–Frank J. Diekmann, the CU Daily
