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MARGARET ECHTERMANN: `Best Summer of Her Life'

 

This was the plan: run in the New York Marathon and get out of town. Getting out of town would actually come first for Margaret Echtermann. She was 33, a former upstate New York girl living in Hoboken, and was pleased that her firm, Regus, was relocating her to Boston in two weeks.

Tall and athletic, with long blonde hair, Ms. Echtermann had been exceptionally happy this month. "You could tell it was the best summer of her life," said her older sister, Heidi Echtermann. "She had fallen in love with this guy. She had taken a summer house out in the Hamptons and they had an amazing summer. Her birthday is in August. They celebrated Margaret's birthday every single night."

Margaret Echtermann worked on the 93rd floor of 2 World Trade Center. Heidi works at Lehman Brothers, across the street. Margaret spoke to her sister after the first plane struck and told her she was fine, then called her parents in Barneveld, a small town north of Utica, and told them the same. Then she called a friend, who recognized Margaret's phone number on her caller ID, but heard nothing. That was the moment of impact, her sister thinks.

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times