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Stories of Loss
Families Suffer Deaths of Husbands, Fathers in Terror Attacks
Listen to John Burnett's story.
Dec. 24, 2001 -- Every Friday, on his day off from his job as a banquet chef at Windows on the World restaurant, Leobardo Lopez Pasqual would call his wife Imelda Reyes Soriano and their two sons, Diego, 4, and Juan, 7, at their home in San Pablo Anicano, Mexico.
That call didn't come on Sept. 14. Three days earlier, Leobardo was on the job in the restaurant atop the North Tower of the World Trade Center when the building was attacked. As John Burnett reports in one of his occasional stories about Windows on the World, Imelda found out what happened when her brother called from Mexico City on the morning of the attack, and told her to turn on her television. When she saw the images of the building burning, she feared the worst.
Leobardo "was a good person," says Imelda. "He never disrespected anyone. We planned many things together for the future for our two sons that we had, that we have. But God didn't want it that way. Leobardo left us early."
Imelda and her boys are left wondering what to do next -- how to live without their father, and without the $100 or $200 he sent them every month.
Julieta Melendez is in a similar predicament. She is the wife of Leobardo's friend and co-worker, Antonio, who also was at work in the restaurant the morning of the attacks. She and her four children, ranging in age from 13 months to 11 years, live in a fifth-floor walkup ion the Bronx. (Julieta, an illegal immigrant, asked that her real name not be used.)
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Imelda Reyes Soriano and her children
Photo: John Burnett, NPR
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For now, they are planning to stay, rather than return to their hometown in the state of Puebla, Mexico. She doesn't want to leave her husband, she says.
"I don't know if he's in a hospital, of he can't speak. I don't know that, I can't leave him. I don't know if in 20, 30, 50 years I'll be able to see him again. I can't leave him. To me, he's here. I have not seen him dead, so I'm still looking."
Both women have received some financial aid form various charities. But it's a temporary fix, at best. For both of them, and all six of their children, the future is uncertain.
Other Resources
Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund aids families of WTC victims who worked in foodservice throughout the complex.
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