Interview - "More Years Without Her Than We Had With Her": Remembering 9/11 Victims 25 Years Later

Jill (0:04)

Welcome to this edition of the Mo News Podcast, part of our special coverage of the 25th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th.

2,753 people died at the World Trade Center site on September 11th, 2001 That includes 343 members of the FDNY, 23 NYPD officers, 37 Port Authority police officers, and hundreds of people working in the towers or visiting that day, and the crew and passengers of the two hijacked planes that struck the buildings. But these are not just numbers. These are real people with family and friends and loved ones, some who left behind children or spouses who were pregnant, others whose lives were just beginning. So as we mark 25 years since the terror attack, there is now an entire generation that was either too young to remember the day or not even born yet and learning about it as facts and figures in school. So we wanted to remember the real people whose lives were cut short. And for that, I want to welcome Erin Jackman, whose sister Brooke Jackman had just turned 23 when she was killed on September 11

She was working on the 104th floor of the North Tower at Cantor Fitzgerald, a job she had only started two months earlier. Erin, thank you for coming on.

Erin Jackman (1:30)

Thank you for having me.

Jill (1:32)

And anyone who has listened to this podcast for a while might recognize Brooke's name because I do mention her every year on September 11 So full disclosure, Erin, you and I know each other. Your family grew up with my husband's family on Long Island. My husband and Brooke were extremely close friends from when they were toddlers. And my daughter was actually named in part for Brooke. But you and I have never really talked about this. So I do appreciate you doing this. All right, Erin, when I asked you if you wanted to come on to talk about Brooke, you said yes, but it did take you a few days to think about it and get back to me.

So I just want to kind of get in your head. Why was that all of these years later? Is it just still so difficult?

Erin Jackman (2:16)

It is still so painful and so difficult, and it's a lot. As much as I wanted to do it, I just had to take a minute and just think.

Ultimately, I knew I would do it. You are, as you said, a friend. Your family is like family to me. Most important, I do like to talk about Brooke.

It's 25 years. It's a multitude of emotions. It was such a painful day that day. Still talking about it, I feel the building in my chest, even as you and I are just sitting here and I'm getting ready to talk about it. It's just, it's a lot. Physically, emotionally. It's a lot.

Jill (3:03)

So tell us about Brooke.

Erin Jackman (3:08)

She was everything.

My best friend, she's the youngest of three. It was my brother and I a year apart and Brooke was five years after him. She was a little girl that she's after us, the little wheat for me, always wanting to be with us. Us always sort of pushing her away and then letting her come. Then she grew up and she was our best friend. And I can't believe I've lived 25 years without her in my life.

I told myself I wasn't going to cry.

She was my best friend. It was more than losing like your arm, a body part. It was everything. She was the first call of the day, the last call of the night. She was the call about everything. She was the call about nothing. She was the person I looked across the room and I just saw the eye. I knew what the eye meant. She knew what my eye meant. It was, we had that sister relationship. I think sisters all over know about it. You either have it or you wish you had it. And we had it. I mean, I can remember the day bringing her home from the hospital, I got my sister, you know, it was before car seats and all. I remember just, she was being in my mother's arms in the car and holding my finger on like just, I was reaching over just the whole, I was, and from that day, she was just my person.

And I just, last year on the 24th anniversary, it was just shocking that we had now lived more years without her than we had with her. And it's just, that's a whole new set of horror, a whole new set of, I can't believe this. So, and now I didn't really tell you very much about her. All I told you about was my trauma. Let me tell you more about her, because this should be about her. She was the friend everyone went to. She was the friend that was there for everyone. The stories and the letters we got, how she would just, if a friend was in need, she'd jump on a train and get to them. Like in the middle of the night, I can't, I mean, to a friend in Trenton, to a friend in college in Boston, they needed her and she got there to them. She was the one everyone called. She was the secret keeper. She was the best memory. She was like having, like she had a photographic memory, so she could recall every date, every place, every outfit worn to anywhere, to anything she went to or did.