Monday, July 5, 2010

'Mourning The Victims Of Sept. 11 Attacks,'

More father-son duos---but I didn't know that Marsh also had offices in Midtown too, hmmmm---and another brother-brother double blow. The Maloney's five-month residency in Darien equals Brad and Kathleen Noack's five month marriage in Southbury. In the old days, CIA agents had three-year resume items. But the financial fear mongering is intense. Why is her car payment overdue nine days after 9/11?

The Hartford Courant,
September 19, 2001
Compiled by Courant Staff Writers Josh Kovner and MaryEllen Fillo.

Here are some of Connecticut's presumed victims of the plane hijackings and terrorist attacks Sept. 11 on the World Trade Center.

James D. Halvorson, 56, Greenwich

As the insurance broker on many large overseas construction projects, Halvorson traveled extensively. He'd spend days on end in rural settings in Russia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and other areas, mingling with the villagers.

"He was always fine with it," said his son, Douglas, 29. "He didn't have to have his guard up."

Doug Halvorson said his father had remarked on occasion how secure he felt working in J.H. Marsh & McLennan's offices on the 90th to 100th floors of the World Trade Center's south tower.

"It used to take me 20 minutes to get up to see him, because of the security," said Douglas Halvorson, who works at Marsh's midtown Manhattan office. Visitors to the trade center must produce photo identification upon entering.

Halvorson's office on the 99th floor "was pretty much right at the point of impact of the first plane," his son said. "No one heard anything from them after the crash.

"We are hoping it was painless," he said.

Halvorson worked for Marsh for 30 years He was a skier and an accomplished runner, having completed the New York City Marathon in 1991. He and his wife, Maureen, were married for 31 years.

Scott T. Coleman, 31, and

Keith Coleman, 34, both formerly of Westport

Neither Jean nor Neil Coleman can bear to talk about their two sons, who were both working on one of the top floors of the trade center's north tower when American Airlines Flight 11 hit the building last Tuesday.

"They were close as children and continued to be close," said their mother, Jean Coleman, a Westport resident who has been in New York waiting word about her two sons.

Keith, resident of New Jersey, and his younger brother, a New York resident, both worked for the financial securities firm Cantor Fitzgerald. They graduated from Staples High School in Westport. Relatives said there were no calls from either brother the day of the attack, and there has been no word from either since.

Edward Maloney, 32, Darien

Maloney and his wife, Brinley, have a 14-month-old daughter and are expecting their second child in December.

A few months ago, the young family moved to a home on Five Mile Road.
Maloney commuted to the World Trade Center, where he worked as a bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald.

Only about one-third of the nearly 1,000 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who worked in the north tower---struck by the first of two hijacked airliners---have been accounted for.

Kathleen A. McGarry Noack, 30, Southbury

Neighbors shudder when they recount the story of how newlywed Katie McGarry Noack, and her husband, Brad Noack,

found themselves inside the World Trade Center as the first hijacked airliner smashed into the north tower.

"We only know what we have learned from each other or what we have read," said one Southbury resident who lives on the same street as the McGarry family, but asked not to be identified. "It is a tragedy for everyone who was killed in this tragedy but for two young people, just starting their lives out together...how will that young man ever get over losing his bride?"

Brad Noack, a computer professional from Sydney, Australia, was on the 39th floor of the tower when the plane hit. His wife, Kathleen, better known as Katie, a financial consultant, was 70 floors above meeting with a client.

Brad Noack, along with colleagues from Lehman Brothers, an investment banking and brokerage house, rushed to leave the building. He tried to call his wife on her cellphone but no one answered. He then paged his family in Sydney to let them know he was OK but he could not determine if his wife had also made it to safety.

He is still awaiting word.

Noack's parents said their son and Katie were married in April, three years after the two met at a Thanksgiving party in the United States. "Our daughter-in-law," Jeannette Noack said in published reports, "we think she is gone...It's a nightmare."

Geoffrey Cloud, 36, Stamford

As was often the case, Cloud's 7-year-old son, Geoffrey, ate dinner this past weekend at the home of his best friend and baseball buddy, Evan Brace, 7.

The Brace and Cloud families, neighbors on Westover Avenue, had grown close over the years. Their common bond was their children.

The elder Geoffrey Cloud worked 12-hour days or longer as a lawyer for the financial securities firm Cantor Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Most weekends, all he yearned to do was hang out with Geoffrey, daughter Jacqueline, 5, and his wife, Mio.

But the terror attacks took him from his family.

Susan Brace is still smarting from young Geoffrey's parting words after their weekend meal.

"I have to go," the boy said. "Tomorrow we have to look for a
new
dad."

Cloud, who worked on the 104th floor, and nearly 1,000 other Cantor employees were trapped after the first hijacked plane smashed into the north tower at 8:48 a.m. on Sept. 11.

He was such a gentle, wonderful man," Brace said. "He'd drop over to the yard and have a beer with my husband, Steven, on the weekends. They'd toss a ball with the kids. He worked such long hours that whenever he had free time, he'd spend it at home."

Now there is a void on Westover Avenue.

Susan Brace said the neighbors have rallied around Mio Cloud, who also works as an attorney.

She was in the process of buying a new house but now, with her life changed forever by terrorists, her friends on Westover are trying to help her get her deposit back.

"Then there's the matter of the past-due bills, which I've been handling," said Susan Brace. "Everyone, Nissan for the car and all the rest, have been very understanding. It is just such a tremendous loss."

Stacey Sanders, 25, formerly of Darien

"This won't help," John Sanders says emotionally when asked about his daughter, still missing after the attack on the World Trade Center. He answers the phone before it has even finished ringing once, and when he says "hello" there is a hesitant kind of hope. When he realizes it is a call that brings no news of his daughter, he is once again overcome by his grief. Sanders would confirm only that Stacey was living in New York City, after moving from the family's home in Darien.

"You have to understand how difficult this is," he says almost apologetically. "I just can't talk."

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