Padua’s Marianne Cohagan Shares Emotional Ties to September 11, 2001

“The Day the World Came to Town.”

Written by Jim DeFede, the book chronicles the journey of thousands of travelers who were diverted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, Canada in the wake of terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, heavily damaged the Pentagon and saw United Flight 93 crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Padua Athletic Administrative Assistant Mrs. Marianne Cohagan never needed to read the book. She lived it.

“I was on a plane flying from Denmark to New York, as I was finally moving here to the United States after being married for just shy of two months,” Cohagan said when asked the question, “Where were you on September 11, 2001?”

“We were supposed to land in New York City, and we were told while we were on the plane that under the circumstances, we couldn’t land in New York City. We weren’t told where we were landing.”

Initially, Cohagan thought the plane would be diverted to Boston. However, upon arrival, she realized the flight did not get rerouted to Logan International Airport. Upon landing, Cohagan and her fellow passengers were told about the full circumstances of the day.

Cohagan’s flight from Denmark was one of 38 civilian aircraft that landed in Gander Newfoundland on September 11. Nearly 7,000 people arrived in Gander, whose population in 2001 was around 9,600.

While the travelers nearly doubled Gander’s population in a span of several hours and with America in the early stages of grief as the country mourned for the lost lives, Cohagan found a much-needed spirit of support from the city’s residents.

“When we all realized what was happening and we finally got off the plane, we saw a side of people that I wish we saw more,” Cohagan recalled. “The humanity that people showed us, they were gathering towels, shirts, beds, cots, food to provide for us. We were there so long that if we needed anything, if we needed to be taken anywhere, they would stop by and pick us up.”

“Most people stopped by and said, ‘Hey, if anybody needs showers, go to our house down the street. There are laundry baskets with clean towels and dirty towels. Just do whatever you need to do. If you need anything, let us know.’ After all the hate that day, I saw a humanity in people that I wish we probably showed more every day.”

“Unfortunately, sometimes there has to be disaster for us to show that side of people. That day after everything, nobody saw race, nobody saw religion, nobody saw gender, we saw human beings. That’s how we were treated, like human beings. It didn’t matter if you were an American citizen, Danish citizen, female, male, Catholic, non-Catholic. It was just humankind.”

Cohagan was flying to New York City to begin her life in the United States with her husband, Perry.

At the time, Perry Cohagan worked for American Express, which had offices next to the World Trade Center. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, Cohagan evacuated his office and was one of thousands who ran up the West Side Highway to safety as the towers collapsed.

Meanwhile, Marianne Cohagan remained on the tarmac for 17 hours before disembarking. Once she exited the plane, Cohagan waited in a long line for phone access to call her husband. After that emotional conversation, Cohagan got back in line so she could call her family in Denmark and let them know she was okay.

After the attacks on September 11, which forced a ground stop to all international flights into the United States, American airspace remained closed to commercial and private aircraft for two full days. Once flights resumed, Cohagan flew to Detroit, and then, White Plains, New York, which is an hour north of the site of the attacks.

She arrived late Friday night, September 14, and what she saw, felt, heard, smelled, and experienced upon getting into New York City with her husband was “devastating.”

“We lived on 16thStreet between 5thand 6thAvenue,” Cohagan said. “Anything below 14thStreet was closed off. You saw fences along 14thStreet where there were posters or pictures of loved ones people were searching for.”

“I think we all quickly discovered it was a recovery, not a rescue because not many people came out. We lived right across the street from Xaverian Church and School, which was very Catholic. I feel like every day for a long time, there were funerals. The bagpipes almost went every day for the firemen that went up in the buildings.”

While dealing with the aftermath of the attacks and the weight of loss for the city, Cohagan found comfort in something she had seen in Gander, Newfoundland: a spirit of support and kindness for each other.

“For a long time, there was a generosity of people,” Cohagan said. “There was hope. There was a way of treating people.”

Now 25 years later, Cohagan remembers details about that day as clearly as they happened in real time. During moments of silence, especially on the anniversary of the attacks, Cohagan reflects on the enormous loss of life.

In total, 2,977 people never made it home on September 11. There were 125 people killed at The Pentagon, 44 passengers and crew on United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, and 2,606 people at the World Trade Center, including 343 FDNY firefighters and 71 law enforcement personnel.

Since September 11, more than 450 first responders have lost their battles with World Trade Center-related illnesses.

“I get to sit here and tell this story,” Cohagan reflected. “I often think about the people that just went to work that day like it was any normal day. I think of the people that were left behind. There are kids that never got to meet their parents. It’s a sad day, and even 25 years later, it’s a sad, sad day.”

Rather than shuttering those memories and feelings, Cohagan shares them with students at Padua Franciscan High School.

Every summer, Padua does a reading event known as the Bruins Big Read. This year, Cohagan volunteered to lead a book discussion about “The Day the World Came to Town.” In addition to the discussion, Cohagan organized a field trip to The Shoppes at Parma, where there is a September 11 Memorial that features a piece of the World Trade Center.

“It’s really moving, and instead of sitting in a classroom, we had a piece of history literally down the hill from us,” Cohagan said. “The students were very intrigued by it. They asked a lot of really good questions about it. I thought they got more involved in it because they got to see this part of the beam.”

Along with the one in Parma, the Parma Heights Fire Department has a piece of steel from the World Trade Center displayed in a Memorial outside of its station.

Cohagan has been to both Memorials. She continues to go as a lasting tribute to the people lost on that day and in the years since because of their work at Ground Zero.

“Every 9-11, I usually go and I just lay a bouquet of flowers,” Cohagan said. “That’s how I pay respect for the people that never came home that day.”