How 9/11 Changed Us

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Deborah Novotny

Deborah Novotny was at work when she heard on the radio that an airplane had hit one of the Twin Towers.

She returned to her home in Woodridge that night around 8 p.m. and turned on the news. She put her dog outside and walked out to her backyard.

“My home is in the flight pattern for Midway and O’Hare,” she said. “I looked up and I could not see a single plane in sight. Absolutely nothing. That’s when I knew this was very serious stuff.”

Novotny said she learned how important saying, “I love you” to friends and family was when she lost her brothers in 1982 and 1992. Sept. 11 had the same effect. “This made it hit home,” she said. “This was on U.S. soil.”

She’s more patriotic now. She pays more attention to what’s going on overseas. She prays more.

Both of Novotny’s sons have served in the military since Sept. 11. Her 32-year-old son, Thomas, re-enlisted in the Navy in August. He returned from a deployment in Afghanistan in May. You can see him in the photo she's holding.

“I’m very, very proud of the kids over there who put their lives on the line,” she said. “Tom has put his whole heart and soul into this. He really believe in what he’s doing. I just wish more people would pay attention and understand what they’re doing over there.”

Novotny has a specific plan for Sept. 11, 2011.

“I’m going to go outside around the same time and look up at the sky. I hope to see a plane.”

Brayer Teague, band director and fine arts department chair for Downers Grove North High School

Downers Grove North had a home football game on Friday, Sept. 14, 2001.

To honor those who had died just three days before, the school planned a tribute before kick-off. Any student could participate in a candlelight vigil on the track while the band played. The stadium lights would be turned off.

At Thursday night rehearsal, in the dark, the band played the National Anthem. A car stopped on the side of the road to watch. When the last note of the anthem was played, the driver shouted:

 “God Bless America.”

“At the moment, it made such a huge impact on everyone,” Teague said. “There was so much emotion in the person’s voice. It came out of pitch blackness.”

The months and years that followed changed the way Teague saw the United States and the members of its military, especially during the Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Fourth of July band performances.

“It has been a clarifying time for me in terms of appreciating what our country stands for and those who serve in the military. For someone in my generation, I was a little too young to be involved in Vietnam, but I’m a little too old for the most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I see the veterans we were honoring differently. I see that soldiers that lost their lives differently.”