Sharon Balkcom

Sharon Balkcom died on 9/11 while at work in the World Trade Center. Many people died that day but this is the name I remember. And when I think of that day, I always think of Sharon.

Sharon was in my class in college. I didn't know Sharon well and I wouldn't say we were friends but it's a small school so you do get to know just about everybody at least a little bit. I remember talking to Sharon a few times here and there, standing in line at the Student Union, at the Coop checking our mailboxes or while walking up cardiac hill after dinner. And while she wasn't someone I knew well enough to keep in touch with after graduation, I'd see her name in the alumni newspaper now and then, listed as participating in some alumni activity or when she finished graduate school, and I'd think to myself, "oh, yeah, Sharon Balkcom, looks like you're doing okay." And I'd be pleased by that, because she was that kind of person, someone you'd want good things for.

Sharon wasn't family or my best friend. She was a classmate a long time ago. But she mattered to me because I knew her and I never forgot her and when I found out she had been murdered by terrorists on 9/11, I was incredibly angry. I still am. And I take it personally. I always will.