By ANTHONY BOTTAN
But it has been seven years since the attacks on the World Trade Center, and for those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001 - husbands, wives, friends - time has not healed the pain. It has only made the pain different, they say.
Fourteen people who lived in Valley Stream at the time were killed in the attacks, and for the families of the victims, every day brings a new challenge. Just ask Debbie Palmer.
Debbie's husband, Orio, was one of the 343 firefighters and paramedics who died that day. He was a battalion chief in the New York City Fire Department, and was one of at least two firefighters who reached the impact zone on the 78th floor of the south tower. Orio's voice was recorded in the only known transmission of firefighters in the trade center. On the tape, he strategized about how to extinguish the various fires he saw, and possibly save those trapped by the destruction of the second hijacked plane.
"He appreciated all the little things in life, like a beautiful day or a sunset," Palmer said of her husband, who was 45 when he died. "He was happy with the life he made and was happy with what he had because he worked for it."
Debbie and Orio married in 1983 and moved to Valley Stream in 1986. They had three children, but Debbie said that their every achievement is bittersweet, because their father is not there to see it. "The pain isn't the same as it was in the beginning, but the pain never goes away," she said. "It goes below the surface for a while, but every milestone in the kids' lives brings it to the surface. Every occasion is bittersweet. That's the part that will never get easier."
Palmer said she thinks the village does a good job of memorializing the victims of Sept. 11. It is not only cathartic for her, but it helps teach a younger generation about the impact of the largest terrorist attack on American soil.
Joan York lost her husband, Raymond, that day. He was on light duty after undergoing shoulder surgery in 2000, Joan said, but when he got the call that a plane had hit the north tower, he hitched a ride on an ambulance that was making its way to the crash site, even though he did not have to be there. "He went right away, no questions asked," York said. "I spoke to people that were with him, and they said he told them he had to go."
York said her husband was a great father. When the two got married, Joan had two children of her own, but no one would have known the kids were not Raymond's, she said, because he was such an important part of their lives. "He was so involved ... with the Cub Scouts, Little League," she said. "He was really a giving, happy person." He also was a serious kayaker, she said, and even started a kayaking team with some of his friends in the fire department. They called themselves the Blazing Paddles.
On Sept. 10, 2001, Raymond went to his department office to get some paperwork on retiring after 20 years of fighting fires. Like Orio Palmer, York was just 45 when he died.
"I don't think it gets easier, just different," Joan said. "I might be having an OK day, then I see something on TV and it brings all these raw feelings back. We're learning to accept what's happened, but it will never be easy. There is always something there."
She said that even though the village does a good job of memorializing the victims, she would like to see a monument erected in memory of the Valley Streamers who died that day. "With the amount of people that died, sometimes I feel like the personal stories get lost," York said, "and as [Ray's] wife, it's important to me that he is remembered not as one of so many, but as one."
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