St. Charles native and 9/11 victim Andrew King remembered as 20th anniversary approaches

Andrew King called his wife shortly after the first plane hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

“He was saying that something had hit the building,” Judy King recalled. “He didn’t know what. When I turned on the TV, I saw that something had gone in, but I didn’t know what it was at that point. There was just a bunch of smoke coming out of the building. Then he said, ‘Oh, my God. I’ve got to call you back.’ ‘’

Little did Judy King know it would be the last time she would hear his voice. Andrew King, a bond trader who worked at the World Trade Center, died in the attack. He was 42.

Andrew King was a St. Charles native and 1977 graduate of Elgin Academy. He was the son of Wesley and Joan King and nephew of former Geneva alderman and historian Merritt King, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 93.

Wesley King, a noted architect, designed and built the Andrew Marshall King Memorial Bridge at the Geneva Golf Club in memory of his son and others who died in the attacks.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years,” said Judy King, who owns Judy King Interiors in Princeton, New Jersey.

They were married for 16 years and have three children.

Judy King plans to mark the day by playing golf with friends and family members. Golf was one of Andrew’s favorite pastimes.

“Everybody likes to play golf, and Andrew was a big golfer,” she said. ‘We’re just going to celebrate him and golf with good friends and have some dinner.”

Andrew King also was at the World Trade Center during the 1993 bombing. He was not injured in that attack.

“He got out,” Judy King said. “He was going to a golf outing actually. He ended up coming out of the building with everybody else and then getting on a plane and going down to Florida for a golf outing.”

She misses his hearty laugh.

“He was like the life of the party,” she said. “He was very athletic. We were always doing stuff like hiking. He was a very active person. All my kids are so much like him. They all have like a piece of him, for sure.”

On Sept. 10, Elgin Academy will have two gatherings at the Andrew King Memorial Garden at the school to remember King. Seth Hanford, who is Head of School at Elgin Academy, will lead the ceremonies.

“A group of his friends who were so fond of him and inspired by him approached the school and put in a lot of labor themselves to plant the beautiful garden that’s out here now,” Hanford said.

Teachers will talk about the events of 9/11 in their classes.

“We want to help the students understand Andy and his legacy and also talk about the collective desire for a more peaceful world,” Hanford said. “This is something that we all need to think about as citizens of the world.”