This September 11 marks 25 years since the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were struck by hijacked commercial airplanes in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Nearly 2,800 lives were lost in the WTC attack. According to 911memorial.org, 100 million Americans are too young to remember the day that changed New York City and our nation forever, but former Lakinite Joel Neff, son of Martin and Donna Neff, has not forgotten.
Joel and his wife, Tenille, were living in Larchmont, NY at the time. They had moved there so that Tenille could attend graduate school, and 9-11 took place on the very day she was to begin classes. Joel was working in Manhattan at A.I. Friedman, a long-standing independent art supply and graphic materials department. He traveled to work on the Metro North, and as he boarded the train bound for Grand Central Station that morning, news of a plane hitting the WTC began circulating on the train. Joel and other passengers assumed that a small private plane had probably hit the buildings because that had happened before.
Joel’s 30-minute ride into the city went smoothly, but upon arriving at Grand Central, news was spreading that two large planes had hit the WTC. Thinking that all was under control, Joel boarded the subway for the rest of his journey to work. The subway stopped somewhere between 20th and 14th Street at about 9:45 AM, not at a scheduled stop. It was pretty intense underground with no light or air conditioning and only speculation of what might really be happening above. Joel made it to 14th Street around 11 a.m. and entered onto the street above to a chaotic scene. Only then did he begin to comprehend the magnitude of the devastation. His work place was 10 blocks from the WTC, and the building had been evacuated. Joel used his cell phone to let his wife know he was okay and began his long walk back to Grand Central Station where he was able to catch the last train leaving the city for that day.
“I walked back to Grand Central and caught the last train back home, the whole time in a daze of visual reality fighting the unreality in my head.”
Joel wasn’t able to go back to his job in Union Square until the following week. “Although we were open, for the next month we really didn’t have any sales but we stayed open so people would have a place to just go and be.” The area around Ground Zero was blocked off with National Guard units stationed at barricades with NYPD.
Although Joel didn’t personally know anyone who lost their life in the attack, most of his co-workers lost someone they knew that day. Still, Joel couldn’t help but be impacted by the tragedy. “The weeks following were really just a daze, where nothing felt real. I never experienced any sense of fear in those days, but a profound sense of sadness and connectivity with the greater community. It also seems that very shortly after, the memorials began popping up with anti-war and a real sentiment for peaceful resolution.”
“Even though I had just been living in NYC for three months when the towers were attacked, the thought of leaving never really crossed my mind, even though several people from back home made the statement, “when are you going to move back?” To me, there was nothing more amazing than seeing the people of NYC pull together and deal with this traumatic event in a very real and meaningful way. Feeling somewhat of an outsider at that moment I was never treated that way by the people I knew or met at that time. I know there is the stereotype of the mean, cold New Yorker that is often portrayed on TV, but I did not find that to be even remotely true having gone through such a tragic event with my fellow New Yorkers.”
The Neffs remained in NYC for 13 years but moved back to the Midwest after having their first child. Their Missouri home is a far cry from the skyscrapers, subway, and hustle and bustle of New York City life, but memories of the terrorist attack still linger.
“Looking back, as with most tragedies, seeing the whole country unite as a community where we were all just Americans, no matter your politics, race or ethnicity, rallying to support one another as we all struggled to make sense of this senseless tragedy was an amazing thing.”
Neff added, “Unfortunately, the following war and politics since then seem to have used the attacks as a catalyst to begin to divide the country over the last 25 years. I guess thinking back to that time, I wish that sense of togetherness that we had as a country was more prevalent in today’s society and that we could have used that moment to foster in 25 years of country and worldwide unity helping to bring greater stability through the world instead of the insecurity that seems to be so prevalent in today’s society.” That’s a sentiment we can all relate to.
Special thanks to Joel Neff and his mother, Donna Neff. The accompanying pictures were taken by Joel 12 days after the WTC attack.