Sunday, September 11, 2011

Death In My Family Caused by 9/11? We Think So. By Geniusofdespair

Henry was born in 1911. He died suddenly on September 14, 2001. He worked on Wall Street for nearly 50 years. My Uncle started there just after the 1929 crash and remained until the 1980's, most of his life was spent in the Wall Street area.

Uncle Henry's whole life was his job - no wife, no kids. I remember when I was young he would wear a seersucker suit and a straw hat to work in the summer. He always wore custom made white shirts with his initials embroidered on them. Henry was an odd duck, not close to family but close to what he truly loved, his job, selling Bonds on Wall Street for a firm called Tucker Anthony (yes, only one job all those years).

On September 11th when Henry heard the news he was distraught according to my cousin. I called him to discuss it September 12th and I had a feeling something was wrong. He was odder than usual, subdued, not himself. I knew the tragedy was having a heavy impact on him. He told me the number of people who died. Why was that significant? Henry never talked about bad news EVER so for him to say the number was unusual. If I ever brought up something sad in a phone call to him, he would say: "Thank you for calling" and then he would immediately hang up. He just didn't want to hear anything sad. He mainly watched sports on TV, no sad shows. After our conversation, I could just picture him in his home in New York watching 9/11 unfold over and over again on TV. That wasn't going to be good for him.

Two days after that phone call Henry, fully dressed, keeled over on his bed and died. The family thinks he died of a broken heart.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very touching genius. Although we definatey don't see eye to eye on Miami, my thoughts and prayers are with you today as we remember such a tragic day and how this has changed America. God bless you you hateful thing....

Geniusofdespair said...

You made laugh, even while I once again mourn my uncle's death. "Hateful thing" I can only imagine how I must have been pushing your buttons.

Anonymous said...

I think he did. A broken hart. I differ with you day in day out, however, today we mourn together, all in our own way. Tomorrow we put on our gloves again...

Geniusofdespair said...

Where the he'll are you people from? Why don't you read a like minded blog, we don't need you here.

Mike said...

Did I miss something here? I read a touching post which was welcome on a day like this. Then I read a comment basher who can't even spell? I don't get it.

Geniusofdespair said...

Where the hell are you people from? Why don't you read a like-minded blog, we don't need you here.
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Mike, once you have been blogging for years you will understand blog trolls and all the other annoyances in comments. It makes you hard and nasty, well at least it did that to me. They will get to you eventually unless you are like my fellow blogger on this site who rarely - if ever - reads his post comments.

Some of the spelling errors are due to I Phone corrections (I write a lot on my phone) but some of the readers here aren't getting their diploma anytime soon.

Anonymous said...

When someone calls you a "Hateful Thing" after such a touching a post like you wrote, they deserve to be kicked around. That was rude. There is something wrong with that person and I think the same person did the "Gloves Come Off" comment. They or he is a jerk. It was the wrong post for those kinds of comments. Chill, have a beer.

Anonymous said...

Did you people forget that we are all humans? Capable of feeling things differently, and having different perspectives on politics...

Geniusofdespair said...

"you people"? I thought we discussed that earlier this week.

Anonymous said...

Genius, by you people, I am referring to ones that call you a hateful thing. That is uncalled for when commenting on a blog. No matter what the difference in opinion!

Geniusofdespair said...

That is why I took this up with you " you people" could encompass a lot of people. Better to be specific. The comments were annoying.

Anonymous said...

Sleep well, Mr. Uncle Henry.