This weekend thousands of bloggers are remembering 9/11 in a very special way. I am one of them. I volunteered heartily and thankfully to honor one of our 9/11 fallen. Some were hero’s doing their jobs as policemen and firemen. Some were ordinary people who did heroic things to save others. Some were caught in the firestorm by being in the right place at the wrong time; such as just reporting to work that day or by being a innocent passenger on a plane.
My honoree was just such a person. She had gotten up that morning to head out on a vacation to Palm Springs, Florida with her long time boyfriend Donald DiTullio. It should have been a happy day for them both, but it turned out to be the worst because Janis and Donald were on Flight 11 that crashed into the WTC North Tower.
Janis was a caring and giving person. She had three dogs and she loved them as if they were her own children. She even went so far as to include them (Shiloh, Sasha and Jessie) and their care into her will. She had no children of her own.
Janis was was also a line dancer according to her friends. Dancing was something that she enjoyed at the local Moose Lodge in Salem, MA. In fact she met Donald at a country and western dance.
In her spare time, she volunteered in soup kitchens during the Holidays. Janis was also very creative and let her juices flow on such things as photography, collages, quilting, sewing and gardening. She was also very adept on the computer and helped others create web pages.
Janis got her schooling at University College, in Peabody, Massachusetts. First she earned a bachelor’s in information technology and then her MBA. She had worked for 28 years as a product testing team leader for General Electric at the Lynn Plant.
Janis was a person that I would have liked to have known. There is much in common with this beautiful soul that lived so far away from Georgia in Massachusetts. She left behind a much loved sister and niece that I know miss her very much.
Linda, I hope I did your sister proud on this tribute. It just seems that words are not enough.
Natalie Janis LasdenFor a complete list of participants and their honorees, please click the image below.
April 19, 1955 to September 11, 2001
You said it well when you said words are not enough.
So many and so much was lost that day. A very nice tribute.
That was a nice tribute!
I have mised you.
Hugs
it’s so true that words are simply not enough. But, you wrote so eloquently. May they all rest in peace. Mine is up also.
Beautiful tribute, Phoenix. These names and pictures are turning into real stories of real people…well, just like they always were. I can see them individually now where before there was still shock and numbness.
Thank you for sharing her story.
Thank you for taking time and sharing your heart – so that Natalie and the 2996 will never be forgotten.
you are a good soul!
A wonderful tribute. Your name was above mine on the 2996 site so I clicked to read. I found it a very emotional experience researching my assigned victim, may they all rest in peace. Jeannette xx
The tears are flowing again, this was beautiful!
I honored a FDNY fireman, Michael Haub.
Thank you for sharing….
A wonderful tribute. She was a special person from what I am reading and I am sure very missed by all that knew her. Thank you for sharing Janis with us!
What a wonderful dedication to Janis. Just one more of the many innocent victims that day.
I honored Edward Raymond Vanacore
A beautiful tribute! It sounds like you really put a lot of thought and research into this.
I didn’t do one because I was flying today and had to leave early. I didn’t think I could give someone the attention they deserved.
What wonderful tribute. Thank you for this.
A beautiful Tribute. Very well done. We lost too many wonderful people that day, full of life and character.
I remember Chris Traina, & Robert Spencer
Janis was my dads aunt. I don’t thinkI ever met her, but I love her anyways. Rest in peace.