On Sept. 11, 2001, Maureen Geraghty was driving to work at a Phoenix oil and lube business she owned when her sister called and told her about planes crashing into New York City’s North and South World Trade Center towers.
She comes from a family of New York firefighters, including two brothers and a brother-in-law who were on duty that day.
“I got to work, and my employees and customers stood around a small TV in the lobby watching in shock,” Geraghty said. “Then my sister called and told me the firefighters who were accounted for and who weren’t.”
Edward Geraghty, one of her brothers, and her brother-in-law, Thomas DeAngelis, weren’t accounted for.
After weeks of police, firefighters and other first responders searching the 9/11 devastation at Ground
Zero, neither of the New York Fire Department battalion chiefs was found.
From audio recordings, her family learned Edward Geraghty was in the South Tower and DeAngelis was in the hotel between the buildings, Maureen Geraghty said.
She said her brother Stephen Geraghty, also a New York fire battalion chief, spent a year after 9/11 working at the site and looking for his brother. He died in 2022 of cancer brought on from toxic exposure at Ground Zero.
“Stevie died a terrible death from breathing in all that poison,” Geraghty said.
She said her family has firefighting in its blood. Her dad also was a firefighter, and she now has nephews who are firefighters.
Finding a way forward 'even in all the darkness and fear'
Geraghty is telling her story and how she came to terms with the losses at a Friday, Sept. 11, event at the New Vision Center for Spiritual Living that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. The event is titled "The Choice on 9/12: A Healing Experience."
“We were all afraid, devastated and angry after 9/11, but yet my family experienced love, compassion and support in so many caring ways," said Geraghty, who is a practitioner at New Vision, helping others with their grief and problems.
“People reached out to help us in so many ways every day,” she said. “Even in all the darkness and fear, we are such a caring nation. We can choose to still be that nation.”
That’s the message she wants to convey with her talk about her personal experience. Sept. 11 will be the first time she’s spoken to a group about her loss and how she learned to cope with it.
The Rev. Karen Russo, a minister for the New Vision Center, is also speaking. She called Geraghty a “rock star” example of someone who can step into personal and spiritual growth.
“Look at the life experiences and losses she’s been through,” Russo said. "She’s amazing.”
The event, which will include music, remembrance and healing components, starts at 6 p.m. at 18010 N. Tatum Blvd. in Phoenix.
'I want people to see 9/11 in a different way'
Besides not knowing the fate of her brother and brother-in-law, Geraghty had to deal with logistics after the 9/11 attacks.
“I needed to get to New York but couldn’t get a flight because of what had happened,” she said. “My sister had the whole Amex travel department trying to get us on a flight.”
She said a friend of a friend knew the executive assistant to the CEO of American Airlines, and she was able to help get Geraghty on a flight.
“I got home (to New York), and it was weeks of waiting before we realized they (her brother and brother-in-law) weren’t coming home,” said Geraghty, who had six siblings. “We tried not to watch it all unfold on TV.”
She said one of the saddest parts of the loss was watching her mom and dad.
“It was hard for me as a sibling, but it broke my parents’ hearts,” Geraghty said.
But she wants people to see 9/11 in a different way. She wants people to understand the "cocoon of love" that surrounded her and her family and the support of the nation, with yellow ribbons everywhere and American flags in many yards.
“We as a nation can be like that again. We are a caring nation,” Geraghty said, “I want people to see 9/11 in a different way, in the way we all came together and took care of each other.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona woman who lost 3 family members to 9/11 wants to inspire others
