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Jean Caviasco DePalma: One Last Girls' Night Out

 

Just think of that Saturday before the tragedy as, well, girls' night out at the World Trade Center. Jean Caviasco DePalma made sure her teenagers, Drew and Jamie, were O.K., then left home in Newfoundland, N.J., to stay the night with Michele Caviasco, her baby sister, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. "We just hung out together," Ms. Caviasco said. They even went for a run along the East River, saying all the sister things.

Then a subway delivered them to the trade center, where Ms. DePalma, 42, happened to work as a forensic accountant on the 100th floor of the north tower at Marsh & McLennan.

But this was Saturday night, so they remained downstairs on the plaza between the twin towers and watched a free performance of the Twyla Tharp dance company. Afterward, they strolled around, past those buildings that no longer exist, on their way to ice cream at Ben & Jerry's.

Back in the apartment, they laughed a lot while watching Ms. Caviasco's tape of Madonna in concert. The sisters had always been close, even though Jean was the oldest of five and Michele the youngest, growing up in Wood Ridge, N.J. Their friendship rekindled after Ms. DePalma's divorce two years ago.

"I remember the closeness we had that day," Ms. Caviasco said. "I feel lucky to have had that last bit of her."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times