PETER A. APOLLO: And Then They Were
Silent
This had been a year of dizzying change for Peter A.
Apollo. Last month he became a full-fledged securities
trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. Two weeks ago his older
sister, Denise, was married. Next Sunday he was to turn
27, and on Nov. 16, he and Debbie Johnson were to be
married in West Orange, N.J. "He was having the time of
his life," said his mother, Cecile Apollo. "He loved his
friends, loved his job, and he loved Debbie."
Mrs. Apollo said she had found some solace in reports
that her son died huddling with co-workers on the 104th
floor of 2 World Trade Center. Employees in the company's
Connecticut office had an open line through a "squawk
box," and said thick smoke rising through the stairwells
had prevented Mr. Apollo and his co-workers from fleeing.
Long before the building collapsed, they told Mrs.
Apollo, the voices faded and then ceased altogether. Mrs.
Apollo said she believed her son died before the building
fell.
"At least that's what I'm hoping," she said. "I'm
trying to find comfort in the fact that he was with the
people he loved."
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