“Thanks for your note. I want to report I am safe. As you may know I work for MMC (Marsh) in NYC, and we had 1,700 employees in the World Trade Center. As of the date of this writing, by a miracle, 1,400 are safe. In addition to watching the event from my midtown office window, I am grieving for the loss of so many colleagues and friends. Thanks to you and Wittenberg for your thoughts, prayers and efforts to help. Keep doing all you can from Ohio. We need to come together as a nation. More than ever we need to Tiger up.”
— Scott Patterson ’89, New York, N.Y.
“Thank you for sending this message to alumni for whom you have e-mail addresses. Wittenberg has always been special and can be counted on to be there in crises.”
— Pam Tuke Zeck ’70, Sarasota, Fla.
“Thank you for your kind thoughts for those Wittenberg alumni who might have fallen as a result of the cowardly terrorist attacks in NYC and Washington, D.C. ... [A]s a member of the U.S. Army Reserve who has served in our country’s military on active duty and in the Army National Guard, I find your ecumenical thoughts most comforting as I think of comrades who have fallen in the Pentagon and in the World Trade Towers. Please let me know if I may be of assistance in your continuing efforts.”
— Col. Peter F. Cohen ’64, USAR,
Bloomington, Ind.“I cannot tell you the panic and fear that arises after such an escalation of events. Every 15 minutes, something else was blowing up or crashing down. I was not only in a war; I was at ground zero. ...You can’t imagine what it looks like here.”
— Terry Martin ’96, West New York, N.J.
“The surest way out of this tragedy and toward an elimination of terrorism is to change people’s hearts. We must choose love over hate in every action we take. Yes, we need to bring the remaining perpetrators to justice and to do all we can to prevent further attacks, but we cannot put on the cloak of hate and terror in resisting terror. It is far more important to minister to those who have suffered, and who will continue to suffer, the direct consequence of these acts.”
— William Pfeiffer ’63, New Hartford, N.Y.
“I am also trying to do my part. I am organizing a fund-raiser in my community this Friday night with all proceeds going to families of the tragedy. What started out as a small gathering has now become a full-blown crusade. Instead of 100-200 people, we are now expecting 500-1,000. It has taken on a life of its own. It is truly wonderful to see our community like those around our nation come together and support each other. Thank you and everyone for your kind words and support. The Spirit of Wittenberg is strong! God bless you.
— David J. DiPietro ’85, East Aurora, NY
“I am still in shock and disbelief at this senseless violence and offer prayers to those affected. While none of my immediate family was impacted, I do know a handful of friends, neighbors and work associates who remain unaccounted for. This is a tough time for New York and our country, but the spirit and resolve that I personally witnessed gives me great hope for the future and is a source of great comfort and pride.”
— Frederick Herbst ’79, Garden City, New York
“I stare in disbelief at the changed skyline and landscape, and my heart goes out to all those immediately affected by the loss of loved ones. We are all changed as a result of this massacre.”
— James Rio ’86, New York, N.Y.
“Thanks so much for the update from Wittenberg. I was a student at Witt when Martin Luther King was assassinated, and I remember the gathering in the chapel and the closeness of the Wittenberg community that helped many of us at that terrible time. I’m heartened to hear that the sense of community I remember from those days is still an integral part of the Wittenberg campus.”
— Peggy Davidson Bonesteel ’68, Liverpool, N.Y.
“It was a surreal, nightmarish experience I never hope to repeat.”
— Mary Cook Paul ’94, Falls Church, Va.
“It is a different world we are living in. I just had lunch with a friend last week who had dropped off his best friend for the flight that crashed into the Pentagon. Loss is close at hand, and together we are helping each other cope.”
— Lisa Kothari ’93, Bethesda, Md.
“What a pleasure to hear from my alma mater at a time like this. Thank you. We share in the disbelief and the subsequent sorrow that much of the nation feels. My husband and I have traveled often abroad. He was just preparing to visit the Pare Diocese of the Tanzanian Lutheran Church when all this happened. I am deeply involved in work with Malaysian people. I pray that the efforts many make to build bridges of understanding between peoples and cultures may continue so that peace will be a possibility for future generations.”
— Jan Hart Heinicke ’52, Indianola, Iowa
Please share your thoughts by e-mailing the editor at wittmagazine@wittenberg.edu