[ad_1]
Erika Piver of Stonington recalls in vivid detail the frantic hours following the news of a terrorist attack on September 11.
How could she not. His younger brother, Joshua Piver, 23, had just started his dream job with Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of 1 World Trade Center. The company reportedly lost 648 employees that day. Josh Piver was among them.
Erika Piver was in a meeting when someone walked in to announce that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. It was followed by a call from his mother’s boss. Her mother could be heard crying in the background. She and others rushed to find Josh’s new cell phone number only to find out later that cell service in New York City was down. As word of the devastation began to spread, she called the elementary school where her children were in class.
“I was panicking. I wanted to make sure no one was talking about it in front of them,” Piver said.
She and the children, on a recent visit with Josh, had visited the Windows of the World on the upper floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Now family members have gathered to wait for news.
“We hope he’s just gone. Maybe he was in the hospital without ID?” she said.
However, it didn’t take long for the reality of the situation to set in. Josh Piver, the calm, friendly and fun-loving child with a busy life ahead of him, was gone.
Tragic events have a way of bringing people and communities together.
So, as the nation comes together to remember the lives lost in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there remains a fierce determination to keep the memory of victims like Piver alive in eastern Connecticut.
There are few better examples of this belief than the grassroots efforts that sprung up after the deaths of Piver and 32-year-old James Greenleaf Jr. of Waterford.
Greenleaf was a former St. Bernard High School athletics and football star who was voted “best dressed” and “prettiest” and ranked in the top 2% of her class. He then attended Connecticut College where he was captain of the rugby team. As many expected, Greenleaf began a successful career working as a forex trader at Carr Futures on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center.
Greenleaf was among the casualties that day.
On Saturday morning, a group of people will arrive at Ocean Beach Park in New London for the start of an annual 5K run, a fundraiser in honor of Greenleaf which is just one of many events that have taken place. contributed up to $ 500,000 to the James A. Greenleaf Scholarship Fund. The scholarship has grown and widened each year and offers tuition fees to St. Bernard students and scholarships to graduates of St. Bernard, Waterford, Fitch and New London high schools.
A separate shore rally is planned at Stonington Point where a crowd will gather around a memorial granite bench dedicated to Josh Piver. More than a dozen restaurants and businesses will donate part of the day’s profits to the Josh Piver Memorial Bursary.
“He was funny, funny”
Piver graduated from Stonington High School in 1996, where he played football and spent summers with friends working at the Dodson Shipyard. He then obtained a degree in economics and environmental studies from the University of Vermont.
Erika Piver remembers her brother as “just a kid living his best life.”
“He was calm. Nothing ever made him angry. He was always the calming person in the room. He was fun, funny, and loved being outside. He worked hard. He wasn’t the kind of kid to be around. which all was easy, said Erika.
The years since Piver’s death have seen a wave of support from the Town of Stonington and local groups. There is a memorial bench at Stonington Point. The football field is named after his brother. The high school observes a minute of silence on September 11 and has a class to teach students about the events of that day. Even when events were ruled out in 2020 due to the pandemic, Erika said the group had managed to raise $ 15,000.
“It’s really a testament to the community and all they’ve done to help us,” she said.
“A truly remarkable person”
Greenleaf’s longtime friend David McBride, who is still close to the family, said Greenleaf had a way of him that touched and influenced others. This is part of the reason he and other friends and family have been so successful in raising funds that have touched the lives of so many.
McBride remembers the day the 9/11 attacks took place. He was working with the Mohegan tribe and in a conference room when someone walked in to relay the news that a plane had struck the World Trade Center.
“Everyone was appalled. I immediately quit work and went to the Greenleafs that day. No one knew what was going on,” McBride said.
There were hours without answers and a lingering hope that Greenleaf had somehow survived.
“Everyone at the time believed they were going to find these individuals. It wasn’t until a few days later that it hit you,” McBride said.
McBride, who had played football with Greenleaf in St. Bernard and visited New York on numerous occasions, said there was an immediate response from friends of Greenleaf and members of the St. Bernard community. Bernard.
The result was the James Greenleaf Scholarship Memorial Scholarship Fund and the promise that the name “Jimmy” would be associated with something that would benefit the community in perpetuity.
“Personally, I have had a hard time dealing with the loss. What I tend to do in my life is try to be positive about things. What can we do to commemorate it,” he said. said McBride, former director of the fund.
Each year the fund hosts events that include golf tournaments, races and gala dinners which served to bring people together, which was part of the original intention of the scholarship fund.
“Jimmy touched a lot of people. He knew how to relate to any individual, a really great person,” McBride said.
Frank Marcille, chairman of the scholarship foundation and cousin of Greenleaf, said there is a passion among scholarship fund supporters and the annual events have served to create a family that includes recipients. scholarships that are too young to remember the events of 2001..
Hundreds of children have benefited from it. “They’re the ones who keep Jimmy’s name alive,” he said.
Erika Piver said she struggled to express how much support has meant for her and her family from individuals and organizations such as the Rotary of the Stoningtons and the Stonington Community Center.
“I can’t express how amazing they were,” she said.
There is joy in seeing the community come together in the name of his brother, but the birthday is also heartbreaking. Her three children grew up without an uncle. His mother attended weddings for Josh’s friends. Josh’s 9/11 birthday and birthdays continue to be difficult days.
“You just think of the things he could have done,” said Erika Piver.
For more information visit: www.jamesgreenleaf.org and www.thecomo.org/bourses
[ad_2]
Source link