MARCIA CECIL-CARTER: Navy Tough,
Soft at Heart
Do not be fooled by the pale pink roses Marcia
Cecil-Carter holds in her Feb. 16, 2000, wedding picture.
"She was tough as nails," her husband, Ondre Carter, said
proudly.
She had to be, starting out as a 17-year-old mother in
Chicago, and joining the Navy to make it on her own.
After 3 1/2 years as a chef for naval officers, she
moved on and up -- to Carr Futures, a securities company
on the 92nd floor of 1 World Trade Center.
Mr. Carter was going to the laundry when their paths
crossed on his mother's street in Brooklyn five years
ago. "Our eyes met, and I made a big excuse to go to the
grocery store to follow her," he recalled. Their son
Devonte is 4 now.
Ms. Cecil-Carter, 34, was upset when she learned this
year that her daughter, Amber, was having a baby at 17.
But she melted when she saw her baby grandson for the
first time -- two days before the terrorist attacks.
"Tough as nails," her husband said, "but the softest
heart in the world."
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