Remembering September 11th.

In July I signed up to participate in a blogging tribute to the victims of 9/11. Of course, being me, I left it to the very last moment before I typed a thing, although I had read about Marie Pappalardo, of whose name I randomly received.

Marie was 53 (but going on 33 according to her daughter) and had lived in Paramount, California for 12 years where she was a Controller and Production Manager for ALA Foods.

Marie was returning to California on Flight 175, the plane that hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. She had been on her annual trip to her home state of Massachusetts to visit her daughter, Maria, for Maria’s birthday as well as to attend the Feast of the Three Saints, celebrated on Labour Day at her home church, The Holy Rosary in Lawrence.

After Marie’s death her co-worker Steve Santoyo revealed that he and Marie had been married for 2 years, and that she was step mother to his three daughters. Their marriage was kept private because of their jobs.

Marie’s interests included travel, racehorses (she loved the horse Affirmed, a Triple Crown winner), all sorts of music, operas and animals, especially cats. She would take stray cats to the vets for shots and spaying. She even cut a hole into her garage door to allow cats to come in to eat. She had two cats of her own, Mickey and Mouse.

Marie Pappalardo is survived by her daughter and son in law, Maria and Lance Koutny, her husband Steve Santayo, her three stepdaughters; Rebecca, Erica and Amber as well as two brothers.