GENEVA – As Roxanne Sronkoski watched a tribute to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks Friday at Geneva High School, she held a photo of her friend, Christine Olender.
Olender worked at the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center, and she died on that day, Sept. 11, 2001. Each year's anniversary is difficult for Sronkoski, who works as a nurse at the high school.
"She was off on that day, but Christine was very much a perfectionist," said Sronkoski, who said her friend had been at the restaurant on the 107th floor and had been checking in on her day off. She's since learned the details, how Olender and employees went to the 106th floor because of the smoke and damage.
Sronkoski feared the worst and made a call. Many others did, too, and eventually Olender's voicemail was full.
"I was just hoping against hope that she just had been in her apartment," Sronkoski said.
Sronkoski and Olender grew up together in Chicago and went to Resurrection High School. They participated in the pompon squad and, since Resurrection was an all-girl high school, they cheered for Weber High School. She said Olender went to New York in the 1980s. She last saw her friend in 2000, at their high school class's 20-year reunion.
Sronkoski remembers where she was that day, at home recuperating from surgery. She knows where she'll be on Sunday – she will meet up with Olender's parents and visit the cemetery with them.
There still is sadness, but Sronkoski has come to learn more of that day. She's only recently viewed the transcripts of the phone calls people were making.
"I couldn't do it before," she said.
And she appreciated the students' reflections at Friday's tribute at the high school.
"I thought it was wonderful," she said. "The students were very respectful."
