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Stephen P. Cherry: A Dream House and a CD

 

When Stephen Cherry called his wife from work the morning of Sept. 11, he did not sound at all worried. It was 8:40, the planes were still miles away, and Mr. Cherry, an equity stockbroker at Cantor Fitzgerald, was calling to thank his wife, Maryellen, again for making his favorite dinner the night before, orange roast chicken, and to tell her how much he loved her.

That's how life had been ever since Maryellen Pitt married Stephen Cherry. The Cherrys, who lived in Stamford, Conn., had just finished building their dream house in Westchester County. Mr. Cherry, 41, had left most of the designing to his wife. "The only thing he wanted was to have a big great room, with the kitchen and the family room and the fireplace all in one place," she said. "He always wanted to be with me while I was cooking and with the kids when they were watching TV."

Mr. Cherry was a serious singer in his spare time &emdash; "soft-rock country blues," his wife called the style &emdash; who led his own band and played in local clubs. Last summer he took his warm, rich voice down to Nashville and made a CD. It was never publicly released, but, "Every morning when we get in the car, my 6-year-old asks to hear Daddy's CD," Ms. Cherry said, "and Mommy's up in the front seat with tears in her eyes. But he doesn't see that."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times