By:JOSEPH KELLARD
James Barbella, 52, dies in Twin Tower attack
Oceanside resident and Port Authority employee James Barbella narrowly escaped death when a terrorist's bomb exploded in the basement of the World Trade Center in 1993. For the next eight years, Barbella remained steadfast in his belief that terrorists would one day strike again. On September 11, his worst fears were realized, but this time he was among the victims.
"Jimmy never thought the terrorists were finished," said Monica, Barbella's wife of 29 years. "He felt their goal [in 1993] was to take down the towers [but they failed] because they were inept. He felt [the terrorists] were unfinished and believed something like that was going to happen to the towers again."
Monica learned about the attacks on the twin towers, where Barbella worked for 17 years, after switching on the TV that fateful September morning. Minutes later, her husband phoned to tell her that both towers had been hit and that he was unharmed.
"He told me he was in the operation command center and that he was okay," she explained. "The purpose of these phone calls is to immediately call home to let your loved ones know you're okay."
The 9:15 a.m. 'check in' was the only call Monica received from Barbella that day and the last time she spoke to him at all.
A Wall Street Journal reporter, whose article appeared in that newspaper's Oct. 11 edition, traced James' whereabouts during and after the attacks, Monica had learned. According to that report, which included information gathered from other Port Authority employees, Barbella attended an 8:30 a.m. meeting and then made his rounds. After the attacks occurred, he was reportedly directing fireman, police and mechanical people in the towers, as well as directing traffic. He was last seen ushering three police officers up the stairs during the evacuation of the south tower just before it collapsed.
"There was a fellow on the radio who said something about the towers being in danger of falling and they shut off the radios, because that's not a good thing for people to overhear," Monica said.
Although Barbella worked in an area adjacent to the bombing in 1993, and escaped that incident unharmed, he was not to return to his family after the September 11 attacks. Barbella, 52, was one of 78 Port Authority employees reported missing.
In 1972, after serving in the U.S. Marines, attending technical schools, working as an x-ray file clerk at a medical center and as a technician at the TV studio for the Diocese of Brooklyn, Barbella joined the Port Authority as a radio repairman at Laguardia Airport. About 17 years ago, he moved to the World Trade Center, first in operations and then as a general maintenance supervisor, overseeing all the electrical contracts and systems and maintenance personnel of the south tower.
Between the attacks in 1993 and 2001, Barbella served as a property manager, whose basic responsibilities were to oversee the moves by tenants occupying the south tower's 9th through 40th floors.
Because the Port Authority owned the World Trade Center until Silverstein Properties purchased the property last summer, Barbella and his coworkers had a real attachment to the towers, Monica said. She believes that after the 1993 bombing, they would have individually rebuilt the towers "brick by brick" if the towers had come down at that time.
"Jimmy always thought the World Trade Center was the seat of the world. Commerce, and everything else you could think of, was there."
Barbella had a lifelong interest in music, having played the drums as a youngster and the piano and guitar as an adult.
Among his hobbies were exercising, particularly lifting weights, riding a bike and using the Nordic Track. Part of his exercise routine included a walk up the tower's 110 flights of stairs, several times a week.
In coping with the fact that her husband is gone, Monica said she and her three children are "generally doing okay," but there are hard moments to deal with.
Asked what's helped most in getting her through the hard times, she said, "The fact that I have so many supportive people around me, such as the Port Authority people. That he died a hero and not in some senseless car accident. And that I am not alone in this; there are so many people in this."
