Tags:
Journalism of Courage
After both of his parents died by the time he was 10, his six brothers and sisters, all much older, helped raise him. When Siller, a New York firefighter, died in the Sept. 11 attacks, his siblings rallied ‘round, helping his widow raise the children.
As New York marks the fourth anniversary of the attacks at Ground Zero, the Sillers once again will stand together. In a ceremony Sunday honoring siblings who lost loved ones, the Staten Island family will read Stephen’s name from a list of the2,749 people killed in New York when two jetliners flew into the WTC towers.
“The pain doesn’t end,’’ said Russell Siller, the oldest brother. “But we diminish it by turning Stephen’s memory into something positive, by doing good for others.’’
In the months after their brother’s death, Siller’s siblings created a foundation that has raised more than $1 million, mostly for orphaned and abandoned children, burn victims and other causes. ,They became one of the first 9/11 families publicly to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina victims; they pledged $100,000 for relief efforts.
All of these activities — fund-raisers, planning sessions, community outreach programs, interviews — have been life-changing experiences for family members who typically saw each other at barbecues, golf games and camping trips. They have learned that the relentless pace can be a blessing and a curse: It shields them from painful memories; it also ensures that the tragedy is never far from their minds.
“During the last four years, 9/11 has been 24/7 for us,’’ said Frank Siller, pausing in his Hurricane Katrina relief work to reflect. “Each of us has had to deal with this problem, the darkness, in our own way. We’re a close family, but we’re all different.’’
The story of Stephen Siller’s last heroic moments has spurred the fund-raising in his name: As the 34-year-old was driving home after a night shift at his Brooklyn firehouse, he heard about the attacks on the radio. Wheeling his car around, he headed back to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which was closed to traffic. Siller strapped on 80 pounds of gear and ran 1.5 miles through the tunnel to the World Trade Center. He died in the collapse of the south tower. It took several days for Siller’s family to accept that he was dead.
The family’s saga is the subject of a PBS documentary, For the Love of Their Brother, which has been airing in many U.S. cities in the last few days. When the siblings gave interviews, they expected it to focus on their brother’s sacrifice. Instead, it showed them celebrating and mourning him. —LAT-WP
