All who knew her were in agreement: Jeannine LaVerde lived for her family, and was devoted to her son, Christopher. She was dedicated to her job, but family was the most important thing. Her mother Delores remembers “It was all about the family for my daughter. She didn’t travel much or anything because there was no better vacation place for her than being with the people she loved.”
By all accounts, she was a dedicated mother to her son, and surrogate mom to all the kids in their Staten Island neighborhood. She had a natural way with them and quickly earned their trust. Friends and family remember her giving nature, her love of the snow, and her ability to repair just about anything mechanical.
Jeannine was 36 years old that day in 2001, and her son was 10. She worked as an accounts administrator at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods on the 89th floor of 2 World Trade Center. Her mother-in-law worried about the height. “Don’t worry,” Jeannine is reported to have said. “I can run down the stairs. Any problem, I’m out of there.”
After the first plane hit Tower 1, Jeannine could see the fire from her office. She called her mother, who worked nearby, to tell her she was evacuating the building. She reported, while on the phone, of hearing an explosion in her building. As we know now, a second hijacked airliner had been steered into Tower 2 eighteen minutes after the first plane hit Tower 1.
It’s been nine years since that day, but in many ways, for many people, the wounds are just as raw as when we first realized what was happening. We owe it to those who were murdered on September 11, 2001, to hold them in our hearts and minds, and to never forget what happened that day. Please take a moment today to remember, to say a prayer, for Jeannine and for those who she loved and who loved her: her son Chris, her mother, her brother, and many other family and friends who still think of her every day and mourn for what was lost.
More tributes from Project 2,996.
