From
the NJN Archives...
Individual
Voices
A Family
Reunited
(Click on picture for
a larger version)
Mark Schurmeier
came to New York for for a 2-day business meeting. He
had just arrived at the Windows on the World restaurant
for breakfast meeting, going about the business of daily
life, when the North Tower of the World Trade Center
exploded. He was on the 106th floor. Officially, Mark
was listed as "missing". It quickly became
apparent that there were no survivors from that floor.
His family,
including his wife, Ayako, and his 5-year-old son, Mason,
in McLean, Virginia; his parents, Jerry and Susan Schurmeier
of Wheaton, Illinois; and his sister and cousins first
held on to hope that Mark might still be alive. Soon
they accepted his loss. The family held a memorial service
in Wheaton, where Mark grew up.
Family and
other indirectly related people from all over the country,
from California to South Carolina, from Colorado to
Virginia, came together for this and another memorial
service held later in the Washington, DC area, where
Mark worked.
According
to Warren Leach, Mark's uncle, "They all agreed
that it was a shame that tragedy seemed to be the only
reason to get together, and planned to renew their kinship
in Mark's honor."
So, on the
week of July 4th, 2002, the whole group of relatives
- 32 people, in all - met for a reunion in Garden City,
South Carolina. Many of the relatives had never met
each other because of their ages and distance from one
another.
 The
reunion, the first ever for the group, turned out to
be a huge success. As Warren Leach said later, "Mark
had a marvelously warm and gregarious nature. It would
have pleased him greatly."
Ironically,
on August 20, 2002, the family received the results
of DNA tests performed on remains found at Ground Zero.
The tests confirmed Mark's death. The date would have
been Mark's 45th birthday.
|
