By J1 Reporter Anna Rainbolt

Marian Alum Mrs. Debbie Becker ‘95, now Debbie Stalnaker, was in Chicago on Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, she was working for a mutual fund finance company called Alliance Capital as a portfolio assistant in Chicago.

Her office was on the 50th floor, in a building located southwest of the Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower. When Stalnaker walked into work at around 7:15, she was completely unaware of what the day would bring. The company she worked for had a trading desk in Midtown, Manhattan.“Our trading desk in New York… called our Chicago office and said ‘Holy crap! The tower just got hit!’”

After that call, Stalnaker and her coworkers turned on the news and watched as the second plane hit the tower. She recalls being in constant contact with the Midtown office, and that somewhere in all the confusion, the New York City workers were evacuated out of their building.

After they went home, the Pentagon was hit, and the major concern for Stalnaker was that the fourth plane could have been heading for the Sears Tower.

“If it would have came in and hit Sears Tower on the open side, that building could have fallen onto ours.” Before the citizens on the fourth plane overtook the hijackers and saved countless lives, Stalnaker’s building was evacuated, and everyone was sent home. Twenty minutes later, once she walked home, the fourth plane had crashed down into an open field.

Stalnaker remembers that before 9/11, you could walk straight up to gates at the airport. There was less security in the airports, and less security in the buildings in Chicago. Immediately after 9/11 she says “[Stock] Markets were closed, and the entire city of Chicago there was just kind of like a hush over the city of nobody really knew what to do.” Once the stock markets reopened, she went back to work, and said, “There was just kind of like a sadness” in regards to the brokers who worked in the World Trade Center and no longer had offices. 

Her message to young people is to remember what happened. “It’s one of those things that you have to remember,” Stalnaker said. “There are evil people in the world who will do very bad things, and it’s always good to remember history”. A lesson can be learned from this tragedy: if you see something, say something. Like the heroes on the fourth plane, find a way to act, or find someone who can. 

Thank you for sharing your story Mrs. Stalnaker!
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If you have specific questions about the story email the reporter at 28.anna.rainbolt@omahamarian.org