Naperville Couple Remembers 9/11

Melody Finnegan was getting ready to go for a run. It was a bright, sunny morning in New York City, a day unlike most in the city because it was sunny with a cool breeze. Her husband, Sean, was off at meetings on Madison Avenue, and since she didn’t often get the chance to get a run in she was looking forward to it.

Tying her shoes and preparing to set off from the brownstone the couple was staying at on 13th Street, she recalled hearing a plane banking up above. The sound didn’t seem right.

“I had the thought, somebody is in trouble, or we’re in trouble,” Melody Finnegan said during an interview at the couple’s Naperville home. 

The couple had lived in New York City for several years, but had moved back to Chicago only a few months earlier. They were in New York visiting. Sean who worked in advertising had meetings the morning of Sept. 11. The couple was supposed to fly home that day.

Before she could even leave the house, a call came in from her friend’s husband Steve: The Towers had been hit. His building was near the towers but was not damaged.

“The whole world was up in smoke,” she said.

Recounting the events of that day is still hard to do without becoming emotional, even 10 years later, she said.

The brownstone where the couple was staying was located right near St. Vincent’s Hospital. A triage was set up, but after some time it became apparent that there were no patients to treat, she said.

Sean Finnegan was 30 blocks north of the Twin Towers, he said. While everyone was heading north and away from the scene, he was heading south. After the first plane hit the first Tower, Sean began walking and running down 6th Avenue. As he walked the emergency vehicles began to pass by, most coated in ash, he said.

As he made his way back, he saw the Towers fall.

“It was like time had stopped,” he said. “Everyone had just stopped and was watching. It was so out of this world.”

The couple said that once the towers came down every sense was inundated from the burning smell, to the sight of the chaos and the sounds of cars speeding by and sirens blaring. The Finnegans still visit New York City and Melody Finnegan said each time she is reminded of the sights, smells and sounds of Sept. 11.

“It’s like a hole in your psyche,” she said. “It’s not like New York to not see the Twin Towers.”

At the time the Finnegans, who grew up in Woodridge, had three children. The couple now has seven children. Melody Finnegan said they were thankful their children were back in Illinois with their grandparents.

In the aftermath of the events of Sept. 11, the Finnegans weren’t sure how or when they would be able to leave New York City. Bridges and tunnels would be open, only to close again upon reports of possible threats. The couple remained in the city several days more.

“New York is very diversified — it has mixes of every stratosphere — it just united everybody,” Sean Finnegan said. “We really appreciated that unity. You could sense that everybody put aside their misgivings and were supporting everyone.”

Eventually the Finnegans were able to rent a car and begin the drive back to Chicago.

“Every rest stop, every car we passed, it was like we knew one another and we were sharing the same pain,” he said.

The couple noticed all the flags displayed on their trip home and were amazed.

“It wasn’t just New York,” he said. “The whole world was united.”

For more memories of 9/11 visit Touched By Terror: Patch Remember 9/11 in 911 Snapshots