Richard Lanard
Allen
The
little room on the 99th floor of the World Trade Center's
North Tower meant a great deal to Richard Allen and Sean
Booker.
Every morning before work, the two friends would head
to the storage room and read scriptures from the Bible
and pray.
The two, who also served as Christian ministers at
churches in New York and New Jersey, would sometimes
prepare their sermons in the small space.
It was quiet and gave them a place to reflect, family
members of the two said.
It is in that room where family members believe the
two men died when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed
into the tower, less than 15 minutes before 9 a.m.
The two usually would stay in the storage room until 9
a.m., when Allen would go to work on the 98th floor for
the mailroom at Marsh & McLennan Cos., while Booker
would go to the 93rd floor, fixing photocopying machines
for the firm.
"Richie and Sean would always go into work early,"
said Allen's mother, Denise. "Every morning, without
fail, they would read the Bible and pray. I think they
were doing that when they died."
Allen, 30, of Brooklyn was a minister at Rivers of
Living Waters Ministries in Brooklyn, while Booker, 35,
of Newark was a pastor at Tabernacle Outreach Ministries
in Newark.
They met while working in the American Express
building across the street from the World Trade Center
and then moved across the street to Marsh after Booker
found a job there.
About a week before the terrorist attack, Allen
invited his mother, a folk artist, to speak at Rivers of
Living Waters Ministries. "Our destiny is already
written, I've believed that for quite a long time,"
Denise Allen said. "There's a reason God allowed this to
happen."
For Sharon Booker, though, questions linger. On the
day of the terrorist attack, she had begun a new job in
the Met Life building in midtown Manhattan--giving her a
clear view of the airplane crashing into her husband's
building.
"You can't question God," she said. "But now I feel
that when I leave the house I won't come back. I just
want to feel peace and comfort, but I can't."
He is also survived by their three children, Sean Jr.,
5, and twins, Denzel and Danielle, 3.
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