September 11, 2020
by hdroush
September 11, 2001 is a day that Americans will never forget. It’s hard to believe that this tragic event in our nation’s history occurred only 19 years ago. For some, 9/11 feels as recent as yesterday.
No matter where you were or how you experienced the news of the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center, everyone soon learned that they would always remember the events of Sept. 11. At Ohio Valley Bank, our team of community bankers is comprised of a variety of ages and backgrounds. Like most people, we all share a unique, yet bonded memory of 9/11. We, like you, will never forget.
OVB Chairman of the Board and CEO Tom Wiseman described the events of 9/11 as forever changing our lives. Wiseman at that time was a director on the board.
“We had an executive committee meeting that morning. The first plane hit just as I was leaving my office at the Wiseman Agency headed toward the bank. At that time, I assumed it was a horrible accident,” Wiseman said.
Once Wiseman arrived at the bank for the meeting, he and many other directors and employees gathered to see the television coverage of what would become one of our country’s most tragic events.
“While we were standing around in the kitchen at the Main Office watching the coverage on television, the second plane hit and we knew something bad was happening. I remember Jeff Smith opened executive committee with a prayer. The world changed that day.”
OVB President and Chief Operating Officer Larry Miller also recalled Smith, opening executive committee with a prayer. Miller was in his office conducting a meeting when a fellow OVB employee called him to deliver news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center.
“At that time we thought it was a tragic accident. Later that morning at executive committee when the second plane hit the other tower at the World Trade Center, it became apparent that our country was under attack. I remember Jeff Smith leading the executive committee in prayer for our nation that morning. It was truly a watershed moment for all of us,” Miller said.
Lori Saxon, OVB retail lending, also recalls working at the bank’s Main Office and seeing the news play out in the kitchen.
“I remember going to get ice in the Main Office kitchen and the TV was on,” Saxon recalled. “I couldn’t believe what I was watching…I remember saying ‘did that plane just hit that building?’”
Bryna Butler, who now serves as OVB Vice President, Corporate Communications, also remembered watching coverage of the attack in the Main Office kitchen.
“On Sept. 11, I was seven months pregnant with my first child. I was at the Main Office and Bill Richards came in from the kitchen and asked me if I had heard about the plane accident. I went into the kitchen to check the TV to see what he was talking about. To my surprise, the kitchen was filled with people. Everyone was completely silent and staring at the TV. It was unreal,” Butler said. “The second plane had just hit, and the news crews were starting to realize that it wasn’t an accident. Right then and there I prayed to God.”
For OVB Loan Clerk Jennifer Kerr, her memory of 9/11 is different as she was only a child on that fateful day. Despite being so young, she too, felt the impact of Sept. 11, 2001. Kerr recalled being in elementary school, where her teacher turned on the news.
“The principal quickly came into all of the classrooms to turn off the news, so as soon as I got off the bus and was home, I turned on the news. I remember being the one to break the news to my dad when he got home from work and seeing the look on his face when he saw the footage,” Kerr said.
Jerrod Roberts, assistant branch operations manager at OVB Jackson Pike, was only in junior high.
“I still remember 9/11. I was in my junior high science class taking a test when word came out that a plane had struck one of the World Trade Center towers. A TV was wheeled into the back of the room, with the volume turned down low. The teacher watched the screen as we took our test, not completely knowing the weight of what was going on. My mom came and got me and my sister early from school. We went to one of our elderly neighbors where we watched the havoc that had went on that day. The footage of the planes crashing into the buildings and the fall of the towers. The search for survivors. The search for answers. The men and women scrambling to help in anyway they could. The scenes of the Pentagon and the destruction that was there,” Roberts said. “All of these images flooded the screen. I knew it was tragic. I knew it was a day never to be forgotten. It was our ‘date which will live in infamy’.”
For OVB IT Specialist Jammie Baird, he found himself on the road Sept. 11, 2001, as he was traveling for training with his job at the time. Baird said he was working as a department manager at Walmart in Marysville, Ohio, but was spending the day at a seminar outside of Dayton.
“We had heard there was a plane that hit the World Trade Center towers, but we all believed it was (an accident) with a passenger plane. We heard multiple jets flying overhead low, presumably from Wright Patterson AFB. It wasn’t until we left to return to Marysville, did we learn the awful truth,” Baird said. “It was eerie driving back with no airline traffic in the sky, almost serene. I remember getting off work that day and immediately calling my family to ensure everyone was okay since I was out of communication all day long and had no idea what had happened or where all the attacks were.”
For Tonya Sexton, OVB Loan Clerk, Corporate Lending, she had a personal connection to 9/11 as she knew a passenger on one of the planes. Sexton said she was working at the OVB Milton Office at the time and heard the news from a fellow employee. She and her coworkers listened in horror to the description of the event. They later gathered around a TV at the branch where they, along with customers, watched the footage in disbelief. She also described feeling anxious and worried as her husband was traveling for work, and she was not able to be with her one-year-old son at the time.
“At that moment no one knew what was going to happen next,” Sexton said. “I found out that (the tragedy) had hit close when word got out that Paul Ambrose, whom I had gone to high school with, was on one of the planes…Our hearts sank as we knew what was unfolding right in front of our eyes. Americans pulled together after that in a way that was amazing to see. The thoughtfulness toward their fellow American, helping in any way they could the person next to them no matter who they were, was really great to see and how it should always be.”
Martine Householder, OVB commercial loan processing, also recalled how many Americans came together following the tragedy of 9/11. For Householder, she was working at The Ohio State University in the dental clinic. Like many others, she learned of the attack while at work. She also thought it to be an accident at first as so many did as well.
“Tragically, this soon proved to be wrong and we stared in terrified silence at the small office TV as the second plane hit, and we heard of a similar attack on the Pentagon. Very soon thereafter, all students were dismissed and all non-essential personnel sent home, especially since Battelle, a government-linked research lab only a block away – was feared to be a potential target,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to get home and hug my husband, my kids, and to call family members and friends…I remember next the overwhelming outpouring of love, concern, empathy and support that followed this tragedy of unfathomable magnitude. Flags could be seen everywhere, not just on private residences or businesses. They popped up on bridges, lamp posts, overpasses, and on people’s t-shirts and lapels. Americans pulled together and presented a united front against the foe, and somehow folks were kinder, more patient, and more understanding of each other and our differences.”
OVB Loan Clerk Vicky Biland remembered the unity that swept America as well.
“What stood out then, and still does in my memories, is the way the American people stood up, side by side to help, encourage, to cry, to pray for our country, for each other, and for the loss of so many lives,” Biland said. “Donations were collected and volunteers drove to deliver them. Thousands of people took time out of their lives, from their work and from their own families, to go to the attack sites because they wanted to help. We were one. We were united. We were Americans helping Americans.”
Micah Bynum, assistant branch operations manager at OVB Banking Center at Holzer, was a college freshman at The University of Rio Grande.
“The weather was absolutely beautiful that day. I had taken advantage of my 10 a.m. start of the day and slept until around 9. I walked into my class and to my surprise some of the students were whispering, while another student entered with tears in her eyes. The instructor walked into the room and she was very upset. She was from New York City and had a sister that still lived there, and on top of that her sister worked for a courier company that had her going to the World Trade Center often,” Bynum said. “Our instructor told us the details of the planes crashing and how one of the towers had already fallen. The class was quickly dismissed, so I went to the student center where they had televisions airing the events. While standing there the second tower fell like a pile of children’s blocks. I will never forget that day!”
For Mikka Wells, OVB loan clerk, she was just a young first grader on Sept. 11, 2001. She had joined her class on their reading rug when the school principal asked to speak to her teacher in the hallway. Although she was just a child, Wells knew this wasn’t normal and sensed that something bad possibly happened. When her teacher returned, they did not have their usual reading time, but instead watched a movie and had a snack.
“It wasn’t anytime at all and a bunch of kids in my class were signed out by their parents for the day, so I knew something major had happened. A minute later, my name was called and my mom walked into my classroom to get me. She was calm, but I knew something was wrong,” Wells said. “We got home and she explained what happened and why she picked me up early. In that moment I didn’t really understand but looking back now the whole situation gives me goosebumps. I remember sitting with my mom and dad watching the news. Just the sheer fear and sadness in everyone’s voice will be something I never forget.”
For Laura Long, OVB operations, she spent that day at home with her young children, who at the time were not of school-age.
“We settled in the family room and were about to watch “‘Blues Clues’”, which came on at 9 a.m. Just then our dog jumped on the couch to snuggle, and the TV remote fell to the ground. As it hit the floor, it changed the channel. A skyscraper was on fire on the TV. I thought to myself what movie is this? Just then a plane flew into the other building,” Long recalled. “I thought to myself this can’t be real! It has got to be a movie…Slowly reality was taking hold of me. As most people do, you think of your loved ones, so I called my mom and dad’s house. They had not turned the TV on that morning and would soon learn as I did how our lives as American citizens had changed.”
Julia Wasowski, OVB customer service representative, was pregnant at the time with her daughter. She was at an appointment in Cincinnati when she got a call from her husband, who was at work.
“I remember him saying, ‘we’ve been attacked’,” she said.
OVB Call Center Representative Amanda Brumfield, like Wasowski, was also pregnant. Brumfield described the moment as a day she will never forget. She was folding her soon-to-be born son’s outfits when her dad called to deliver the tragic news.
“The phone rang, and it was my dad telling me to turn on the news channel. When I did I was horrified. Horrified to think that this was happening to the world today, and I was pregnant,” Brumfield said, adding that her son was born a few months later that fall.
Kayla Roush, OVB retail loan processing, remembers being a student at Oak Hill High School sitting in her biology class when she heard the news. Roush said teachers turned on their classroom TVs, and they all watched in horror.
“When I finally went home for the day, my mom was stuck watching the news on the couch with a look of defeat on her face. It struck me then that something had changed and will always be (changed),” she said. “Whenever I think of that day, I swell up with pride and remember the togetherness and patriotism our country showed after that day. Every day after school my grandfather would ask me ‘What did you do for your country today?’. My answer was always, ‘I went to school.’ Now, my answer is, ‘I go to work, I vote, and I love my country!’”
OVB Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer Ryan Jones also described the events of 9/11 as solidifying his pride as an American. Jones, who was working at the Milton Banking Company Wellston Branch in the computer processing department, learned while on the job like so many others. Jones said he and his coworkers were listening to a local morning radio show as they did every day when the program was interrupted by the national news reporting the first attack on the World Trade Center.
“The first announcement came over the radio, we stopped everything in our tracks, turned the proof machine off, and turned the radio up louder to listen as we were all in disbelief. Our country was being attacked. Even from Wellston, Ohio, I felt helpless and empty particularly over the next few hours not knowing where the next targets were going to be,” Jones said. “Since owning my first home, I have always flown our American Flag in our front yard, 24/7, 365 days each year. I am proud to be an American and thankful for our military and first responders!”
While our OVB team members each share a different memory, we like those in our communities and country, all carry the impact of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, in our minds and hearts. No matter where we were or what we were doing, we were forever changed as a people and nation.
From all of us at OVB, we send condolences to the many who lost family and friends on 9/11. We thank our first responders for protecting us then and continuing to protect our nation today.
September 11, 2001 – never forget.
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