9/11 Victims

This had been a year of dizzying change for Peter A. Apollo. Last month he became a full-fledged securities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. Two weeks ago his older sister, Denise, was married. Next Sunday he was to turn 27, and on Nov. 16, he and Debbie Johnson were to be married in West Orange, N.J. "He was having the time of his life," said his mother, Cecile Apollo. "He loved his friends, loved his job, and he loved Debbie." Mrs. Apollo said she had found some solace in reports that her son died huddling with co-workers on the 104th floor of 2 World Trade Center. Employees in the company's Connecticut office had an open line through a "squawk box," and said thick smoke rising through the stairwells had prevented Mr. Apollo and his co-workers from fleeing. Long before the building collapsed, they told Mrs. Apollo, the voices faded and then ceased altogether. Mrs. Apollo said she believed her son died before the building fell. "At least that's what I'm hoping," she said. "I'm trying to find comfort in the fact that he was with the people he loved." My dear brother, I miss your existence and your smile. I miss calling you or stopping down a few floors to visit you. May you rest in peace and look over us, especially Mom and Dad. I love you so much. I think about you every day and cry every day. May you be with all your friends from Cantor Fitzgerald. God Bless you. You will never be forgotten. Love always. -Denise Mauthe, sister