Voices of September 11th

This evening I will have the honor of hosting a very special event - The VOICES of September 11th, Always Remember Gala.  I met the founders of this organization, Mary and Frank Fetchet back in 2008, when I interviewed them for a show I had on Direct TV called “Hometown Heroes” where we profiled and honored ordinary people from all over America who did extraordinary things to help others.

September 11th was a personally devastating event for Mary and Frank since their 24 year-old son Brad died that day, on the 89th floor of Tower 2.  However in the aftermath of that tragedy, Mary became determined to find a way to help the families of the victims keep the memories of their loved ones alive.

I am captivated by how she persevered and created the “9/11 Living Memorial”.   When I went to Mary’s house to interview her we really bonded, in part because I too had lost a loved one in my life. I lost my dad when I was only 13 years old, he crashed in our family plane and died, so I never got a chance to know him as an adult. Growing up I was always in the process of trying to create my own “living memorial” of him.  I had just gotten back from CA where I was filming my own personal interviews with doctors and nurses who had worked alongside my dad, who was a cancer specialist. I was pulling together photos and old newspaper stories and these filmed interviews to add to my memory.  So as chance would have it, I was creating my tiny version of what Mary was creating on a much larger scale.  We became fast friends and it is my pleasure to help this organization whenever I can. To me, she really is one of my heroes.