Community Corner

9/11 Recall: Residents Remember America's Darkest Day

Locals take a look back ten years later.

Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, and locals have been sharing their memories of that day with Capitola-Soquel Patch. 

Below are the stories of Deroll and Juanita Estrella, Geni Calande and Margaret Dixon:

Derrol & Juanita Estrella, Aptos:
"My wife and I were in Istanbul, Turkey when we got the news flash about the attack. We were supposed to leave for the states the next day. Being that there were no flights to the U.S., We went to Paris to wait until we could get home.

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"We spent three days in the city of lights and found the French people to be very sympathetic toward the events of 9/11. We were in one public area when the whole city had a minute of silence in memory of the casualties. However, my most vivid memory was when we flew into New York and we could see the smoke still rising from the Trade Center site."

Geni Calande, Capitola:
"I was watching a stock market show with a retired firefighter friend of mine. When it happened, we both looked at each other and went ‘This can’t be happening.’ I remember once I saw the firefighters going up the stairs, when everyone else was going down, he looked at me and he said ‘They’re gone.’ I haven’t stopped crying since."

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Margaret Dixon, Capitola:
"Everybody knows where they were at on that date and what they were doing. It was just surreal. You were glued to the TV and the news. There’s a correlation to the Kennedy assassination for my generation. Everyone knows what grade we were in and what we were doing during that time. I just wish the country would have carried on like they were, because afterwards everyone was doing things for each other and cooperating."

See other local 9/11 memories by clicking the links below, and send your own stories to jacob.bourne@patch.com.

, Capitola.
, Capitola.
, Central Fire District. 


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