In Memory of Sandra Patricia Campbell

I'll be keeping this post up on the top of the page for a few days, in tribute to the people who lost their lives on 9/11/2001.

I can still tell you exactly what I was doing when I heard the news.

Many people have called it the Kennedy assassination of my generation - the destruction of the World Trade Center towers; the lives lost there as well as at the Pentagon and on a field in the middle of rural Pennsylvania. I used to think this was an apt comparison until reading, recently, that after only five years we've already managed to dull our senses as a nation and have allowed the events of that day to fade from our consciousness like a distant echo in its last stages of resonating. But as for me, I still recall sitting down to read my email and seeing the explosion of posts on one of my discussion lists. I remember turning on the television and seeing the smoldering buildings. And I remember the tears I shed as I watched those towers go down on live television.

All said 2,996 people lost their lives that day. One of them was Sandra Patricia Campbell.

Sandra was a computer programmer, working on the 103rd floor of the north tower when it was struck. Many people have stated that anyone above the impact zone (she was only four floors above) had no chance of getting out as stairways were blocked and doors jammed shut. For two weeks I've tried to wrap my head around the experience of being trapped in a smoke-filled room, waiting for help without realizing none would be forthcoming. But as I read over the posts left in tribute of Sandra Campbell, I'm much more struck by the way she lived - even more so than the shocking and tragic way that she died.

Sandra was remembered by friends and family as a loving, compassionate woman with a burden for others. On the morning she died, her godson called thank her for the gift of a bookbag and his appreciation delighted her so that she pledged, "I'm going to buy him two more." Rather than taking for herself, she would forego vacations and time off to put her daughter through college and to give money to friends. Sandra was often the type to make due with last year's coat if it meant that she could do something for someone else and a true testimony to her generosity was her willingness to pay for her mother's medications, a total that came to $150 every month. This was "just Sandra" said Gladys Anderson, one of Ms. Campbell's aunts. It's very apparent from those who knew her that she will be missed for this spirit she carried with her until the day that she died.

"If I told her someone was in the hospital, she went," said Jacksie Smith, a friend. "The people didn't even know her, and by the time she walked out the door, they knew her."

And David Bellows adds:

"May you rest with the Lord. I will miss your sense of humor, your smile, your personality - I am going to miss you forever. You were a true friend. I love you in the Lord..."

That our lives could all be marked with this testimony; that when we are remember by those we left behind, our legacy is marked by selflessness and love. This is exactly how Sandra Campbell has been remembered, one of the many voices that continue to speak to us from September 11, 2001.

Read Sandra's tributes:
September 11 Victims - Sandra Patricia Campbell
Helpful Was Her Only Gear
September 11 Memorial - Sandra Patricia Campbell