County Executive remembers Amy King
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Twenty-five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Chautauqua County Executive Paul M. "PJ" Wendel Jr. continues to honor the memory of his longtime friend and West Ellicott native Amy King, a United Airlines flight attendant who was killed when United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
King was one of nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in the attacks. For Wendel, however, remembering September 11 is also deeply personal.
Wendel was teaching a physical education class at Falconer Central School on the morning of September 11, 2001, when he and his students learned of the attacks unfolding in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
"We ran out and got the television. Then turned it on inside the gym and were watching it," Wendel recalled. "It's one of those things you're glued to. You couldn't break yourself away. It was just mesmerizing to watch it unfold. It really was such a devastating attack on innocent people."
Later that day, Wendel learned that King, whom he had grown up with and attended high school with, was aboard Flight 175.
"Hard to believe. My jaw dropped. Everything stopped again," Wendel said.
King was an outstanding track athlete at Southwestern and also competed in cross-country. Wendel remembers her not only for her athletic accomplishments, but for the person she was.
"Always had a big, glowing smile on her face. What an amazing person she was," Wendel said. "Truly genuine, kind, sweet, and you just don't ever want to forget that."
King's memory has been preserved through several local memorials, including a memorial outside Southwestern Central School, a marker at Lucille Ball Memorial Park in Celoron and Amy King's Playground outside her hometown YMCA in Lakewood. Another marker honoring King is located at Amherst Memorial Hill Grove in Erie County.
Wendel said those memorials serve an important purpose, but he believes remembering King must go beyond a name on a marker.
"There's never a day, a year that's going to go by that she's not going to be linked to that day in history that shook the world," Wendel said. "But we need to keep telling the story of who Amy was and the type of person she was."
As the years pass, Wendel said it becomes increasingly important for the community to preserve the personal stories of those who were lost, as well as those who survived and experienced the attacks firsthand.
"At some point, there won't be anybody who remembers Amy," Wendel said. "So keep that genuine story of who she was and the type of person she was going on for generations and generations."
Wendel also emphasized the importance of remembering the first responders, military members, survivors and others whose lives were permanently changed by September 11 and the years that followed.
"Those people who remember this so well, who lived it, who experienced it, who could tell you what the dust tasted like, and what it smelled like and everything that they saw -- they're leaving," Wendel said. "You can't forget them. Because once they're gone, who's going to tell their story?"