Valerie Schmalzried and Greg Diprato

Recorded September 18, 2007 Archived September 18, 2007 36:38 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: GCT004278

Description

A husband and wife recount 9/11/2001 together.

Subject Log / Time Code

The amazing views from the offices “on top of the world”
Where were you on 9/11/2001
WE were speaking on the phone and watching
Where should I go?
Realizing there were no survivors
I guess we rescued each other
Deciding to move back to NY

Participants

  • Valerie Schmalzried
  • Greg Diprato

Transcript

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00:03 My name is Valerie small trade and I'm 48 years old. Today is September 18th 2007. I'm recording at Grand Central Terminal and I'm here with my husband Greg. My name is Gregory to Prado age 52 today is September 18th. I'm at Grand Central Station and I'm recording this with my wife Valerie.

00:29 What company were you working for at the time of the attacks on 9/11 Greg and I were both working at Aon risk Services. We were actually working at the Aon office in Seattle, Washington and Reporting through New York to a guy named Gary martello. Gary worked on the hundred and 2nd floor of two World Trade Center.

00:56 And had a number of operations at 2 World Trade Center occupying space from the 80th floor up to the hundred and 5th floor.

01:08 What was amazing about the facilities at the World Trade Center were the views that the employees got your really at the top of the world and Gary's office Overlook the harbor and the factor of Liberty. He had a gorgeous view which included watching helicopters small planes private yachts and passenger ferries some days when I would be in his office the weather would be different on the ground because his office was so high in the sky. You could the sun could be shining as you looked out his window and then when you went down the elevator is it would be raining on the street?

01:51 Because his office was so high in the air. It was just an amazing experience. I think for those employees that were working at the World Trade Center at the time and I love you unsurpassed that you'll never get again.

02:09 Did Gary survive the Trade Center? Yes, Kerry did survive. He actually had left the office about 10 minutes before the second plane hit to go across the street to a meeting in the Millennium Hotel. He left a number of employees behind some of them survived and some of them didn't were you on the September 11th 2001?

02:37 Greg and I were at home in Seattle, and I was in in Chicago for a meeting. I had flown out to Chicago on September 10th in order to attend a client meeting on the morning of September 11th.

02:54 The 10th was an absolutely gorgeous day and I spent the day walking around Chicago and getting prepared for my meetings Greg. Where were you I dropped you off at the airport the day before and I was awakened by a phone call from you it like around 6 in the morning Seattle time, and I know you told me that.

03:22 The Trade Towers plane has gone into trade tower one then. I remember my reaction was that couldn't happen. And so I got up and ran to the living room put on the TV and I was watching the television with you and we saw the second plane going to the

03:39 Until trade tower 2 at that time.

03:43 I guess I can remember I was ready for my meeting a little bit early that morning. So I thought we'll all just turn the news on and I couldn't believe what I was watching at the time that we were on the phone watching the second plane. I can remember saying to that plane look like it just went right into Gary's office. Just got to be a terrorist attack that there's no reason for an airplane to be there was just no reason at all.

04:14 And it was right after that we decide you said people are evacuating the Aon Chicago office at your hotel overlooked. So right at that point, we should try to make plans to get you out of Chicago.

04:29 I can remember you saying to me that you were afraid that Chicago would be hit next in in LA and that the terrorist attacks would just go straight across the country. It was actually a funny experience because I after calling Greg. I called my father and his feeling was that I could stay in the hotel. As long as I possibly could not to leave the hotel not to go anywhere drugs feeling was we have to get you out of Chicago right away with him. We need to find a way out. So I was sort of torn between

05:07 The two opinions and I think we we figure it out shortly that I had a choice of going to either Dayton Ohio where my aunt lived or Cedar Rapids, Iowa where my other Aunt lived and somewhere between the two I would find a way out we decided to try to get to Cedar Rapids because

05:31 That was at least on the way home to Seattle. Yes, just as coincidence. My cousin who lived in Cedar Rapids mother lived in Cedar Rapids happen to be in Chicago at the same time. So we got in touch with my aunt and I was able to get an A on car corporate car to come take me from aunt and my cousin Jay from Chicago out to Cedar Rapids the afternoon of September 11th. It was a 5-hour drive and there was no one on the road at all. It was just the most incredible.

06:16 All day I'm wearing a stretch a limousine for some reason somehow managing to get the corporate car to take us out to the middle of, Iowa.

06:31 And there wasn't a plane in the sky or a car on the road and it was just an amazing day. The sky was crystal clear blue.

06:45 And the thing that I remember most is the silence there was just total silence and I guess we we didn't know what to expect going forward. All we knew is that we had to get out of Chicago and find a place to stay all of a sudden on that halfway through that trip the driver turned around and said there is a plane in the sky.

07:12 And Jay and I looked at each other and said what do you mean there's a plane in the sky. How could there possibly be a plane in the sky? So we stopped the car and looked up and there was Air Force One flying through the sky it was going so fast and it had for fighter jets around it. And it was an amazing sight. We didn't know where or what it was until we heard later that a President Bush had gone to Omaha on his zig-zag across the country on that day. And we apparently had seen him on his last length going through the sky.

07:53 I remember well that was traveling to Cedar Rapids. I was back in Seattle. And most of my time was spent watching the news broadcast what was going on and just trying to catch as much information as possible at the same time. I was

08:10 Working on the computer trying to track down people and I was making phone calls. I talked to Seattle office and other people and try to see if anybody heard from anybody if anybody knew or somebody was corporate had basically asked us to see if we could find people and so is just constantly looking at at the emails and wait for the phone to ring and watching the news and I remember that day I cuz it was I think Val by the time she left Chicago was mid-morning Seattle time. And so I quite a long time by myself and

08:48 I know later that evening after I talked about I think I stayed up pretty much most of the night and fell asleep on the couch. I figured if they're going to come I was going to watch him come again and it was so quiet in Seattle. We our house was in an area we could see the airplanes do their pattern into SeaTac in the there's not a plane in the sky. The only thing you'd hear once in awhile was the jet fighters flying over the city and I remember going outside a couple of the night and just see the back tail lights on a plane as would go down Puget Sound tours Tacoma and then Circle back around

09:22 Enough for me the next day did basically the same thing until Val gave me a call and then we talked about trying to find each other.

09:30 And then not you and your cousin my cousin and I were in Cedar Rapids trying to figure out how to get he lived in San Francisco. So how to get to San Francisco and or Seattle we tried trains planes. Everything was there were no planes flying so we couldn't fly the trains didn't make sense. We finally figured out that we could rent a car but we couldn't get a car until Thursday. So from Tuesday to Thursday, we stayed at my aunts house watch the news and listen for word of our friends as we were trying to figure out who had survived and who hadn't Greg and I had both

10:24 Worked at Marsh & McLennan prior to Aon and Marsh McLennan was in number one World Trade Center that they lost.

10:34 Almost 300 employees and in in the attacks and so we had a feeling we were going to know quite a few people that were killed.

10:50 Can you quite a number of them since you?

11:01 One of the interesting experiences during the time in Cedar Rapids.

11:09 What's that? My cousin was in a resident at St. Johns Hopkins University brother and he was put on.

11:25 A list of doctors

11:29 To be attending

11:32 Any of the entries that were coming in and he was really a happy to be part of the team put on alert because of the impact and the number of injuries. They were expecting the strangest thing happened on Wednesday when we realized there weren't any injuries coming in and he was just in

12:00 Baltimore waiting by the phone as we're all his other doctors waiting for the call and I think he was they were very very disappointed at the end of the day.

12:13 That they didn't get called and there weren't any injuries and it took my aunt a few minutes.

12:24 To help me realize that there weren't any injuries.

12:28 Because there were so many deaths.

12:37 When you came back from Seattle you and your cousin rented a car. Are we calling you guys drove from Cedar Rapids to?

12:46 2 oz Salt Lake City while I was driving from Salt Lake from Seattle to Salt Lake City, and I remember that it was just

12:58 A nice

12:59 Respite from everything to be able to just be in a car and drive and not hear the news or see the news and just kind of drive through the western part of the country, which I hadn't driven that route before I could see all the mountains in the pastures and it was just very very peaceful and it was it was very helpful and sorting things out and I remember when I arrive in Seattle were meeting at a hotel and lime Salt Lake City. I remember seeing you in and come up to you and we gave each other big hugs and kisses and and night my parents wanted to know that I had gotten hold of you. So I called them up in your Stand By Me in as soon as I got Val and you looked at me like what you talkin about. I got you. So it was pretty one of those little funny things that between the two of us, but each other more or less after that we

13:56 Marie just got in the truck and this was car. Actually, we just headed back and along the way we started talking about what we're going to do next and I I think you had the the idea and

14:14 Retirement decision. Do you want to talk about that idea?

14:18 Yeah, I mean, I guess Greg and I or my cousin had taken the car from and he was going from Salt Lake to

14:25 To San Francisco with the car and we had we had looked at a map and decided that Salt Lake City was the best intersection point so Greg came down to get me in on our way back home to Seattle. We decided that our office was destroyed. Their everything was destroyed many many people are missing and that may be the best thing for us to do.

14:52 Would be to pack a truck and go back to New York City and try to help.

15:02 Our colleagues in New York. We had really no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

15:10 And I don't think we even thought about it all we knew if we had to be in New York. So on the way home. I called our boss Gary and I said we have decided to pack our car and come home.

15:23 And he only had three words. God bless you.

15:27 From that point on we just focused on what we had to do to.

15:32 To get ready to go back in and we got home to Seattle and I forgot what day it was. Was it on Friday to Friday on Friday at our daily salary stop the mail the mail and organized everything we needed to organize cuz we were going to be in her house for a while and

15:53 We started basically organizing the trip and packing we grabbed this all our office equipment that we had at home and our laptops and we brought printer version phones and fax machine fax machines. Whatever. We thought we could use because we didn't us monitors paper. We were going to go to the Greenwich Connecticut office and we didn't know what they had there and how many people would be there or what type of equipment that have so got that organized and then we packed up our clothes and took our little portable safe with our valuables. And for reasons that we still don't know what highway we took two sets of golf clubs and a little plaque that has both our names on it, which was the flag that is

16:46 Resembles the plaque at Safeco Field for that has our names on it for donating to the stadium or something like that. And so we brought our plaque and her to golf club bags and and the rest of our stuff home and just took a day off after we packed everything cuz we knew we had a long trip and I want to be very well rested.

17:10 Tell Mom we love Seattle on Tuesday about a week.

17:16 And we drove the fastest route. We could find home across the north of the country.

17:25 Took his four and a half days and we arrived in Connecticut on Sat on Saturday.

17:35 22nd I guess we're basically drove 12-hour days and I think we tried to put on about a hundred miles a day, but we would drive 12 hour days and we alternate drivers every 2 to 3 hours. Can we stop at truck stops to eat and the truck stops were pretty interesting as it's a whole different world out there food really good and then huh. It's very interesting. What's in truck stops. You can get it off of equipment and stuff. Whatever you need to take showers. It was very interesting. But it was also also really quiet the roads were just really really quiet.

18:14 The sky was clear. There is no course no planes in the sky still the only thing you'd see everyone Smiles. We were near fighter bases around so I can see a fighter jet take-off.

18:25 We would see you every once in a while with cool site was seeing these big tractor trailers with really oversized American flags that they somehow put on a stick or something and tape it wired up to their mirror their cab. And if you just big huge American flag flying above the truck is the tractor trailer was going down one of the interested in Toronto State highways and it was always it was all good. Every time you saw that

18:55 And I felt like the country was really strong that no one was going to bow down to these terrorists is basically all I felt was interesting to cuz you saw so many through so much space out in the west that you felt like, you know, you had a place to go if you needed to but we're heading east so cuz that's where we felt we need to be. What was funny was that because the well, I guess it wasn't funny but the New York office was destroyed a lot of the employees were that had survived were scattered wherever they landed after 9/11 and our Chicago corporate office. Didn't know how to find them. They had asked Greg to see how many people he could track.

19:50 I'm on cell phones or home phones or whatever because he was familiar with the new who might be where and where they lived. So when he wasn't driving Greg spent a lot of time on the cell phone trying to track down a on employees for a on corporate and every day. They had a corporate conference call where we would call in. I'm from the road just to see what was happening next and where Greg reported who we might have found who we might have heard from along the way.

20:27 So it was a

20:31 An interesting ride East with so many emotions, but we had a job to do and trying to track our friends and also a sort of a dread not knowing what we were coming home to

20:50 Only knowing that we had to go home.

20:54 We like I said earlier. We arrived home at on Saturday and we want to make sure we got home by Saturday because we knew that a on and Marshall be holding their memorial Services the following week and they're both at Saint Patrick's Cathedral and we did make it home to those and

21:20 What happened what we do after that to recall?

21:25 Basically in a week

21:30 Got ahold of people with incorporating we ended up.

21:34 Attending the service and I know you ended up being one of the greeters at St. Pat's at the front of the church, and I think I was doing some ushering.

21:46 I think that was the first major memorial for the insurance industry. Anyway at Saint Pat's and it was packed. It was just amazing.

21:58 The families of the missing at the time the business associates and friends and just people off the street that wanted to come and try to find an answer to what had happened and it was very healing in many ways. It was the start I guess of many memorials and I think that Greg and I

22:31 How are the next four or five months went to probably 40 memorials and go to Memorial but I remember remember after the service is Saint Pat's. We're in Crossing Park Avenue. And in the middle of Park Avenue, there's Gary and we all told me stopped and turning we all caught up with each other in the middle of Park Avenue or just all three of us. Just giving each other a big hug. Cuz his first time we had seen Gary since we've gotten back.

23:04 But the once we settled into the Greenwich office or regular day for

23:11 Several months was you get up to go to work and you ended up going to a service in the middle of the day for two or three hours and then you come back to the office for another few hours is very strange because

23:24 You go to work and then you go to a service and then you come back to work. You do not normally how things are done and we were just doing that on a regular basis in your run into the same people each service that you knew you give me up tomorrow service. You know, you just be at the next one everyday couple Services we couldn't make we tried but they're like in New Jersey and try to go to do the Hudson River Crossings in the traffic was so bad. I know I'm on one in particular Tom Regan we had to turn around and go back cuz there was no way we're going to make the service in time.

24:01 I remember going to Long Island with Val to a service for one of Val's think was the first service or one of the very early ones for somebody that Val knew that I did not know and her being in the church and breaking down crying for this person that I didn't even know just because of the moment and how sad it was but we look we attended a number of those and all the same time.

24:27 We really weren't living anywhere in particular. I think it took us two or three out of our car. It took us about two and a half months. I think the finally get settled in an apartment in Stamford apartment and we didn't get back home. I didn't get back home for 9 months have to get back to my months. She worked and lived there. I I had to travel a little bit. So I would travel to Dallas on business and then I travel up to Seattle and check on the house and then come back and I did that every couple of months, but Val didn't get away at all and she was working.

25:07 All the time on a very large account or insurance brokers and so she was placing a renewal on a major pharmaceutical that was actually had lost how many people did they lose in that meeting?

25:23 Well, there were two client. There are two large client meetings going on in.

25:29 Two World Trade Center, and the Pfizer was one of them and that's the one where Mary Weiman was hosting Tom Regan and Tony Dimas. I think they were roasting 40.

25:42 Insurance Executives at an interior conference room at on the 105th floor of those 40 people.

25:55 Six survived all the others who were killed most of them or on the

26:02 Elevator Lobby on the 78th floor, right when the plane came in so we don't think they suffer too long. But I think one of the big impacts of the day was the randomness of the attacks and how

26:20 You made you weren't making decisions. You were just going through your normal everyday life and it just happened to put you in the wrong place at the at the wrong time. And I think the randomness was one of the things that was very difficult to to deal with after the fact. I'm a kind of made you question every decision that you made after that. I'm since so many people, you know, what they decide to take the elevator so they were killed other people took the stairs and they survived other people took a right and they

26:55 Survived other people took a left and they were killed. It was so random and decisions had to be made in such a short. Of time. You didn't get a chance to

27:07 To rethink your decision, but

27:11 Mary was hosting this Pfizer meeting and it was not only a on employees. The client was there and a number of insurance company Underwriters were there and these were people that never would have been in the World Trade Center their offices weren't there. They didn't go on a daily basis. So it was just luck of the draw for them. A Pfizer was a huge pay on account and everything was lost. The entire team was lost. So I picked up Pfizer when I came back to New York and tried to

27:50 Learn the account recreate the files get insurance program together. I think it was an early December renewal. So it was crazy and I can remember saying to the risk manager who took over that will just work the whole world will go to London Wall. Go to Bermuda, go to Asia. I will call everyone until we get this done.

28:21 The other account was

28:25 Starwood and they had a huge casualty meeting on some of the people I knew so just a boys who all was in that meeting and they also were an interior conference room. So they did not what's going on and most of that that was an internal a on meeting and most of that that team was also killed in the attacks.

28:49 So the challenge for us Greg and I was to pick up where these people left off try to keep the accounts moving forward try to solve all our clients problems without any files without any.

29:09 Substance and without any people had the experience on the accounts. It was a very challenging time in between going to Memorial Services every time you turned around.

29:30 Although we lost the number of friends and acquaintances in 911 and Val did especially because I didn't work in New York hardly at all in my career. So I did not have as many close friends in the city as well did between marsh and a on but one service in particular. I remember was

29:52 Was your very good friend Tom horwich and Tom that was one of the early services that we went to and I remember the minister was so angry.

30:05 Looks like I'm where we walked out of there actually.

30:08 Feeling like while somebody finally

30:12 Finally got it. Somebody finally Dad. She was a woman has really pissed off about everything and expressed it cuz he basically said this is not fair. This is wrong. This is terrible where I sent the other memorials it was all about.

30:30 Life is how you get what life gives you and you know as survivors. How do we handle it? This Minister basically said, I'm really angry at this and this is not fair and Tom was such a great guy and Marie called you most like the Thursday before I called you to talk to you and you guys were laughing and he was talking to you while you were in Seattle and he was in New York.

30:55 Yeah, he was we went to his wedding and the service was just he was one of the few services that I remember that was.

31:06 One more special for me because I did know Tom and

31:13 It was Thomas good guy always made me laugh. That's for sure.

31:18 The stories of our friends go on and on those that were they are and survived witness people jumping from the buildings. Some of them walked miles and miles to get home or to get to friends house has basically in shock some others had to walk to the water and were rescued by ferry boats or private boaters and transported over to New Jersey and a number of them had to climb up. The pier is on the New Jersey side and order to get ashore apparently New Jersey's government was concerned about the residue on these people. They were covered with dust and grime so once they got

32:03 Over to the New Jersey side, they hose them down and

32:09 Before they would let them go home and I just can't imagine how surreal that was. You go to work one day and two hours later. You're standing covered with dust being hoes down and they sent them on their way on the train soaking wet, and I just I can't imagine that experience the whole time wondering

32:31 What was going on in and and just trying to focus on Surviving?

32:42 It's hard for us to to contemplate all the stories of the survivors. I mean, there's just so many every single one was every single person that we knew that survived their story was different in one way or another.

32:59 And we can only imagine.

33:02 The last moments for our friends. That were killed in the attacks.

33:08 Going forward we have made a commitment to remember our friends as best that we can every year. We attended 9/11 memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

33:23 We always get together small group of us and have a remembrance lunch.

33:33 We also like candles and

33:38 When it's been possible we've gone down and heard the names right going forward. We we found that 911 made a big impact in our life and changed our life. Our life together was has always been interesting but 911 brought changes to us that we just didn't ever contemplate.

34:04 We always thought we moved back East. We never thought we'd move back under those circumstances and we always thought our our family life and career life might be different. But now we're blessed with a young two-year-old daughter and that is just brought joy to us and helps us go forward in our life everyday.

34:24 But 9/11, although we weren't here in York when it occurred that affected us in many many ways that.

34:33 I guess not everybody is affected but for us it affected us very greatly makes you realize what's important and our goal to to remember our friends for ourselves. It's become a very personal thing now rather than a big Memorial. It's very personal, but I think it makes a huge difference that they know that were thinking of them and

35:06 I think Saint Patrick's Cathedral has been the place that we feel is big enough to.

35:15 Incorporate the emotions

35:18 And help remind us where we were.

35:23 What were you were thinking at the time and

35:28 Keep perspective on what's important in our life for it doesn't come up in some form at another especially when you're working in the insurance industry her a long long time ago. You never went to lunch without somebody discussing it, but it's always in the back of our mind and it's always there and every day in which we live our life and every day which we coming to the city. We always have that in front of us and looking behind I guess as well, but it's brought closeness to us in many ways to and I we do cherish the fact that we're both alive and we're both together.