Hard to imagine that my 'baby sister' should be turning 60 today. Today would have been my younger sister Ann's 60th birthday had not five Saudi Arabian murderers taken her life on 11 September 2001. It's not hard for me to imagine what she might have looked like today: not much different than she did in the picture below. She was one of those people who would never look her age.
Here are some pictures I took at the Pentagon just a few days after 9/11. One shows the damage done to the Pentagon by American Airlines Flight 77, and the other shows an impromptu memorial we and others set up on a knoll overlooking the Pentagon. The spot was just off Columbia Pike in Arlington, VA, and shows some of Ann's favorite things: Marlboro Lights, Diet Coke, M & M Peanuts.
Niece Becky Weaver Templeman and I thought about putting a bottle of Dewar's there but figured it would be gone as soon as we turned our backs.
Here is my post about visiting the Pentagon Memorial.
At the top of this post is her name carved on the rock slab at the memorial.
Ann's murder left a gaping hole in the lives of many - not just friends and family, but co-workers and strangers as well.
Her memorial service on 17 September 2001 was quite the event. I gave the eulogy.
The hardest part was seeing my mother laying her youngest to rest.
Below is a picture of Ann (left) and my older sister Ellen. I think this was taken in the Spring of 2000 or so. Happier times prevailed then.
But even in death Annie's still having an impact through the Ann Campana Judge Foundation.
I miss her.
"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." -- William Shakespeare (from Julius Caesar)
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