NEW YORK — Charles Wolf never heard from his wife again after the morning of Sept. 11. And her body was not recovered.
Instead, without any form of closure, he is left with the recollections of that horrific day ten years ago — and the woman he knew would be his wife 30 seconds after meeting her.
Among his vivid memories a decade later: A noise that sounded like a sonic boom, then sprinting out of his Greenwich Village apartment in nothing but his pajamas, the endless ‘beep, beep, beep’ on the phone as he scrambled to reach his wife. Perhaps more than anything, he remembers that titanic, gaping hole that enveloped the upper floors of the World Trade Center’s north tower where he knew his wife Katherine Wolf had been working before the building crumbled to the ground.
And now, just hours before the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, Wolf carries a single flower as the sun reflects against the largest rising tower at Ground Zero. Standing in its shadow, where America’s darkest day took place, he is optimistic about the days that lie ahead.
“Oh my God,” he said, closing his eyes as tears streamed down his face. “This really is a sacred place. It really is a culmination of so much work. This will live on forever.”
Wolf will be among the thousands of family members at Ground Zero Sunday for the 10th anniversary remembrance ceremony. What was once was a bottomless pit will now serve as a memorial to the nearly 3,000 Americans who died that day, their names engraved on bronze panels surrounded by 30-foot waterfalls flowing into the footprint of the old twin towers.
After years of debate about the future of the site, family members of victims will view the memorial for the first time Sunday, and the monument will open to the public the following day.
Presidents Obama and George W. Bush will attend the ceremony where the names of each of those who died in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, as well as on the downed United 93 flight in Shanksville, Pa., will be read.
The commemorative event at Ground Zero is not without controversy. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been widely criticized for inviting only family members of victims and not first responders to the ceremony — and for keeping clergy from participating.
But many, such as Germano Riviera, a former Army sergeant, who volunteered to pull bodies out from the rubble for days after the attacks, say those squabbles seem hollow in the grand scheme of the day’s meaning.
“They sounded like water melons hitting the ground,” he said, reflecting on those who jumped out of World Trade Center windows to their deaths. “Let’s not forget that. Let’s focus on the people who lost their lives. That is what Sept. 11 is all about.”
Wolf’s wife, a classically trained pianist who was part of a London operetta group, was the victim of a cruel scheduling twist. Just a few days earlier, Katherine’s boss asked her to work at 8:30 in the morning, half an hour earlier than usual
Hijackers steered American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m.
After years of emotional paralysis, Charles Wolf says he has come to believe the death of his wife of 12 years was predestined.
“And this,” he added, pointing to the memorial as a choir sang the National Anthem at sundown, “this is where a lot of healing will take place.”
