ANTHONY DIONISIO JR.: He Took Her
Everywhere
The focus of Anthony Dionisio Jr.'s life was his
11-year-old daughter,Stephanie. "On the last day of
school last June, he met her at school and surprised her
with a trip to Disney World in Florida," said Lucille
Dionisio, his mother.
"That
was the kind of things he would do. He was her best
buddy," Mrs. Dionisio said. "They were inseparable. They
went everywhere together, Yankee Stadium, basketball
games, ice-skating shows, racetracks."
Mr. Dionisio, a divorced father, had custody of
Stephanie on weekdays, and her mother had custody on
weekends.
"Stephanie held out until the very end," Mrs. Dionisio
said of her granddaughter's reaction to Mr. Dionisio's
presence in the World Trade Center. "She said, `I am not
worried. Dad will make it out.' When we planned for a
memorial service, we had to sit her down and talk her
through it."
Mr. Dionisio, 38, quit college and worked his way up
to become the vice president for operations at Cantor
Fitzgerald. "We are Catholics, so we believe he is in a
good place now. He will be our guardian angel," said his
mother. After the tragedy, she put her son's picture on
the wall, and every morning when there is school, the
granddaughter says, "Good morning, Dad," and the
grandmother says, "Good morning, Anthony. We are going to
school now."
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