By Kate Roberti
Kellie Kenny remembers sitting in traffic on the New Jersey turnpike with a perfect view of the twin towers sparkling in the beautiful morning’s blue sky. The buildings taunted her due to her unusual tardiness.
If it were any other day she would have been at her desk on the 78th floor of the 2nd tower of the world trade center, not in her car listening to Howard Stern. She was running late.
Kellie had dropped her husband Brian Kenny off at a job interview in Morristown. He had lost his job at the trade center in November of that year.
“I was never late, that’s how my best friend Carolyn and I became so close- we were always, always the first ones there.” Kellie said.
On any other day, as the rest of the 225 people who worked on her floor would filter in, Kellie and Carolyn would be finishing up their morning coffee chat.
Kelly first began working in the trade center fresh out of college for Cantor Fitzgerlad, located on the 7th floor of the second tower. Former boss and Stonehill alum, Timmy Coughlin, created an early bird gets the worm environment. Kellie says she prided herself in being one of his “star students” and credits Timmy for her go- getter mentality that progressed her career. In March 1999 Kellie left Cantor to work for Baseline, graduating to the 78th floor.
On Sept. 11, 2001, stuck in unexpected traffic, Kellie watched from the turnpike as the first plane hit tower 1. In shock and disbelief she called Brian, “I had turned off my phone because I was talking to people for the interview, but in between conversations someone came in and told us one of the towers had been hit. “One or two? I asked, which one? And then someone put a hand on my shoulder. Both,” Said Brian.
Brian excused himself to the bathroom where he turned on his phone and received “the most chilling thing I had ever heard.” He said, his wife was hysterical on the voicemail. A plane had hit the tower, she was saying.
“While I was on the phone leaving the message about what I believed to be an accident at the time, I saw the second plane making its way toward tower 2,” Kellie said. She watched a plane directly into the 78th floor, all she could think about were the people inside: her friends, her co-workers. It was where she would have been on any other day.
After hanging up with Brian’s voicemail, Kellie called her best friend, Carolyn. She remembers screaming into the phone, “you better not be in that building, you better be safe.” Carolyn, her partner in punctuality was running late as well. Carolyn had been waiting for the elevator in the lobby of tower 2 when the first plane hit. She escaped unscathed.
“There are so many stories like mine,” said Kellie. Another good friend of Kellie’s had called into to work sick because it was her wedding anniversary.
“It’s weird how your mind works, I continued to drive, I continued to park for work in my usual spot. I got out of my car and stood there watching, I willed it to go away, I just want it to go away. “ Kellie said. “It was the weirdest sensation. I was willing it to go away, but it didn’t. I sat on the ground crying and just thought WHAT DO I DO? I wanted it to be normal day. I just wanted to go to work.” she said.
After calling a close friend in Chatom who was so thankful to hear Kellie’s voice, Kellie got in her car and began to drive out of the city. “My closest friend in Chatom wasn’t that far away from me, Brian and I made plans to meet there.”
Back on the turnpike, Kellie was now driving away from the deadly scene. Kellie did all she could to concentrate on the road. “I remember seeing people getting out of their cars and dropping to the ground crying. I couldn’t believe they were just hearing about it then,” said Kelly.
“Probably ten days later the funerals started.” Brian said. “The first Saturday four of my close friend’s funerals took place in different parts all over New York, we tried to hold on to some hope, waking up each morning hoping that there was going to be news.” The funerals went on for a months, we didn’t deal with it well. Each one we went too we knew every person there, some we hadn’t known had survived until then. It was the most difficult time of my life.”
The Kennys said they don’t know how they got through those first hours, days and weeks. “Its hard to not believe in interventions” Kellie said.
She said religion is now more a part of her life. “If there is or isn’t a heaven I don’t know, but isn’t it nice to think that there is... and that they are up there looking down on us. We feel the people who died that day helped a little with our miracles,” Kellie said.
The Kennys were blessed with another miracle four years later. Kelly had been told for years she was unable to have children, “I knew I was going to be a mother, the question was only how.” The couple decided on a surrogacy. Shortly after the decision, Kellie then learned she had again beaten the odds: she was pregnant as well.
The Kennys now have a son and daughter: Maeve and Owen, named in memory of close friends the couple lost on 9/11.
The Kenny’s live on a small horse farm in Tewksbury, NJ and their two children just started kindergarten this past September. The couple has redirected their career focuses. Kellie R Kenny has left Wall Street and works from home as the director of key accounts for a company based out of Bethesda, Maryland. She is a mom no matter where she works- “It’s about giving back, not money.” Kellie said.
A few of her accounts are: Michael J Fox’s Foundation for Parkinson Research, American Red Cross National Campaign, Brigham Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Memorial Sloan Kettering, ANERA, Children’s Hospital Trust of Boston.
Brian J Kenny is a proprietary fixed income trader for Rosenthal Collins Group in Morristown, NJ.
On each anniversary of September 11 Brian and Kellie take off work and do something together. “We always sit outside and reminisce about the guys, they were the funniest group of people in the world,” Kellie said.
“Every time we get down, we just hug each other and thank god,” Brian said. This September the Kenny’s kept tradition. “We always sit outside and reminisce about the funniest guys, the best guys in the world.” Kellie said.
This year as the Kennys sat under the night sky on their New Jersey farm telling stories of life before the fall of the sparkling towers, they watched four shooting stars fly above them. “It makes it hard to believe that there isn’t a heaven.”
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