9-11 left ‘a hole’ for so many

Posted 9/16/14

Richard DelleFemine had a feeling his sister, Carol Bouchard, was on one of the flights out of Boston earlier on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as he listened to the car radio on his way to the …

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9-11 left ‘a hole’ for so many

Posted

Richard DelleFemine had a feeling his sister, Carol Bouchard, was on one of the flights out of Boston earlier on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, as he listened to the car radio on his way to the city.

Patricia Croce remembers thinking about what would happen to her brother and her 8-year-old nephew, Matthew, when her sister-in-law, Renee Newell, was lost on 9/11. Now, she never wants to forget those lost in that act of terrorism. She regularly visits the 9/11 memorial in Oakland Beach that pays special tribute to the three Warwick people who lost their lives that day.

Friends Newell and Bouchard were on American Airlines Flight 11, which was the first hijacked commercial jetliner to hit the World Trade Center. The two had planned a “girls’ getaway” to Las Vegas. Newell was a customer service agent at American Airlines. Bouchard was an emergency services secretary at Kent Hospital and devoted to mentoring through the Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership.

The memorial also honors Mark Charrette, a Warwick native who was attending a business meeting at the offices of Marsh and McLennan in the World Trade Center at the time of the attack.

“Let’s take care of them,” Croce said Thursday at noon as people started gathering at the site overlooking Greenwich Bay. In her arms was Bella, her dog that often accompanies her on her trips to clean the memorial and plant or bring floral arrangements. She sometimes encounters other members from the other two families doing the same thing or simply sitting peacefully and reflecting.

“It’s very nice that families love one another,” she said.

But even that sense of love and support can’t overcome the horror of that beautiful fall day that so profoundly changed so much and brought terrorism to our shores at a level not seen before.

“What is going on? I was trying to make sense of it,” DelleFemine recalls thinking as he and business associates drove to Boston to pitch a client. And then he had a feeling that his sister Carol was on that American flight leaving from Boston. He recalls being somewhat annoyed to learn earlier that morning Carol had called their father at 4 a.m. to say goodbye, because their father had not been well and needed the rest.

He and his associates wondered if they should turn around and head back to Rhode Island or continue their business trip.

“Nothing is going to change. Let’s do what we came here to do,” DelleFemine said to the others. They continued.

Then his fears were confirmed. Returning to Rhode Island, DelleFemine was faced with telling his three children that their aunt was gone. The support of family and friends who filled the yard helped, but telling the children “was the toughest thing.”

It is also the toughest part of the story for him to tell.

“She left a hole,” he says of her sister’s loss.

On his 50th birthday, DelleFemine got his first ever tattoo. He pulled his sleeve up Thursday afternoon following the ceremony to reveal it on his right shoulder. There was Carol’s name, and Dad, and the words “In loving memory…Never forget.”

Croce has clipped every story mentioning Renee Newell, mounting them in an album for Matthew so that he’ll always remember his mother.

But it is bigger than the individual pain and loss. That was the theme of the ceremony hosted by the Warwick Veterans Service Organization, including the city’s first responders.

In an opening prayer, the Rev. Robert Marciano, pastor of St. Kevin Church and chaplain for the Rhode Island National Guard and the city’s police and fire Departments, spoke of the losses felt by so many and said we “are proud to be one nation under God.” Marciano was on active duty with the National Guard the day of the attack and was sent on Sept. 18, 2001 to the Pentagon, which was also the target of attack, where he worked 12-hour shifts as part of a “mortuary recovery team.”

Naming the three memorialized at the Oakland Beach site, Mayor Scott Avedisian said that Warwick is still a small and close-knit community that remembers.

Ward 1 Councilman Steve Colantuono said the events of 9/11 brought a lot of fear, sadness and anger but also a lot of respect and pride in our nation and its first responders.

“It is important to remember their service not only that day but every day,” he said.

Asked how that day changed this country, DelleFemine feels we are not standing up to the threats we face.

“We have horrible leadership,” he said. “It’s offensive; it can’t be over fast enough. It’s as painful as the day [9/11] to have our commander-in-chief.”

DelleFemine believes “the military has always been there. Let the military leaders go over and get the job done.”

On a personal level, DelleFemine still has that “hole” from the loss of his sister.

“She was the one who I could call no matter what was wrong,” he said.

Then, pausing to reflect, he added, “My sister has always been there.”

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  • EddieD

    "It's as painful as the day... to have our commander-in-chief"

    ok wow... calm the rhetoric down a bit there buddy... this statement is way over the top.

    RIP Carol, regardless of who's in whatever office.

    Wednesday, September 17, 2014 Report this