7 long years...for John R. Crowe

Two years ago through Project 2,996 I wrote a tribute to one of those killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. I was assigned John R. Crowe since I had no direct connection to any of the fallen. Last year I let the day come and go and regretted it.

This year I am republishing my tribute.

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...What we can do, though, is remember not the destruction and the fear and the chaos by itself, but the tiny miracles that occurred that day and in the days after: The pulling together, the stories of courage and strength beyond measure, the strangers rushing to the scene to help. Amidst all the fear there was raw love—that is what I saw as humans all around the world sent prayers. And within all of that—I see 2,996 lives who mattered. They mattered in life and they matter in their deaths. They teach us, if we let them.

Here is my tribute to John, followed by a copy of his profile from The New York Times.

I Remember You

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six lives

On a sunny morning gone

Smoke and flames and politics

Obscured you for too long

Today we choose to remember you

Each and every one

A father of two, a husband to one

A friend to all you met

Schoolmates, colleagues, family

None will ever forget

Your kindness, your honest love,

Your humor and your heart

Your fear of heights as you went to work

One hundred and one stories up

And that is how you were

Laughing at the clouds

With feet planted on this earth

Always living life out loud

At fifty-seven, your life cut short

A reminder to us all

To live this life with meaning

Heeding every call

Your death will never have been in vain

As long as people know

That each life can enlighten us

So I remember you, John Crowe.

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Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on July 28, 2002:

John Crowe made friends the way he played sports: for keeps.
"We were still friends with people he went to grammar school with," said his wife, Pam. "He has friends from his first job that we still see. Clients that are no longer his clients that he still saw for dinner or lunch. He went on golf outings with former clients. His entire life has somehow been intertwined with friendship."
That extended to his relationship with his two sons, now 29 and 26. "They also became his friends," said Mrs. Crowe, a manager at a law firm. "They would golf together and kayak together."
Mr. Crowe, 57, a benefits consultant for Aon Corporation in the World Trade Center who lived in Rutherford, N.J., as such an eager athlete he sometimes pushed his body further than it could go.
"He played softball till he had so many injuries I begged him to quit," his wife said. "He broke a finger, he did something to an ankle, severed a tendon on his 50th birthday playing basketball."
Mr. Crowe did have one fear, though: heights. "You couldn't get him on a ladder," Pam Crowe said. "But he felt perfectly safe on the 101st floor. He'd call once in a while and ask what the weather was like and I'd get annoyed and say, `Look out the window.' He'd say: `I can't see. I'm above the clouds.'"

Comments

[amanda]

today always makes me want to write and read what other people write. we are all connected to this event, whether directly effected or not. we were all new yorkers that day. thanks for writing and remembering with us.

[Mark]

Thank you for your tribute to John. It truly captures the essence of a great man.

I was one of those many people whose life John touched. In the small town of Jersey City, John was not only my good friend's cousin, but my colleague on the Alumni Board and also a person who I regarded as a true friend. John's spirit for living and caring and giving back was so powerful, yet his understated demeanor belied the passion that his actions showed. When you were with John, he was in the moment with you and you knew it. So that even a simple conversation about events was a meaningful dialogue.

On September 11, 2001, the world lost many great people - for me, none better than John. When I went to his memorial service there were so many people that it became obvious to me how much John was a man for others.

My daily prayers ask God to bring peace to Pam and her sons. They unselfishly shared John with so many people, and for that they have my everlasting thanks.

May God bless and bring peace to all those who lost loved ones and friends on 9/11. For those who have lost loved ones, rest assured that like John they will always be thought of reverently and with the great respect they deserve.

Thank you again and to John, who I know is in heaven probably setting up a gathering after the 5-mile run - we miss you my friend - you will always be with us.

[Teena in Toronto]

Thank you for your tribute!

I posted one too.

[Sarah]

@Amanda and @Teena, thank you!

@Mark...wow, what can I say? I'm so grateful you found this and shared with us...so good to hear from someone who knew John. It makes me so very proud to know I captured his spirit.
Peace to you.

[Peggy Crowe]

I tried to email you before but I was unsuccessful.

I'm John's sister. I wanted you to know how deeply your tribute touched me when you first posted it a while back. Thank you for doing it again this year.

It's been seven long years but I am so grateful that there are people like yourself that takes time to remember the 3000 men, women and children killed. We need to pass on to the next generation the lessons we learned that day as we witnessed the events of September 11.

Thank you again so very much.

Peggy Zoch

[Sarah]

Peggy, thank you SO much for your comment. I'm so glad you found this and that you like it. I would love to be able to talk and/or email you for a new tribute next year that would be more personal if you'd be willing.

It has been seven years but it still feels like an open wound for me, and I did not have any personal loss from that day.

Anyway, you are very welcome. It means the world to me that you left this comment.

xo
Sarah