Revisiting emotions of 9-11 won't be easy for speaker

Winthrop freshman feared her father, a Port Authority police officer, died in attacks

By Matt Garfield - Matt Garfield

Meagan Schmidt knew something was wrong the moment she saw her mother's face.

It was Sept. 11, 2001, and like other parents in East Hampton, N.Y., Meagan's mother had come early to pick her child up from school.

"Tell me what's wrong," Meagan told her mother before she climbed into the car.

Photo 1: Revisiting emotions of 9-11 won't be easy for speaker

Seven years later, Schmidt will share her Sept. 11 story with Winthrop University classmates tonight during a ceremony commemorating the tragedy. It's the first time Schmidt, a freshman, has spoken publicly about an ordeal that rarely leaves her mind for long.

"I can't promise that I won't cry," she said. "It's like it happened yesterday. I still get emotional when I think about it."

Moments after the first jetliner struck the World Trade Center, Bob Schmidt, Meagan's father, rushed into lower Manhattan to join fellow Port Authority police officers in the frantic search for survivors.

For three days, he was unable to contact his family to let them know he was OK. Not knowing when he had arrived at Ground Zero, or where he was sent, the Schmidts feared the worst.

"We kind of thought we didn't have a dad anymore," said Meagan, then in the sixth grade.

That Friday, the phone rang at 1 a.m. I'm fine, Bob Schmidt told his family, but I've got to get back to work.

Bob Schmidt rarely left Ground Zero during the next two weeks. Like hundreds of other emergency responders, he worked around the clock to search for survivors and, later, to help find bodies.

Thirty-seven Port Authority cops died in the collapse of the towers. The Schmidts knew them all.

Revisiting the emotions of that day won't be easy, especially in front of others, but Marsha Schmidt said she thinks her daughter is ready.

"This is what she needs to talk about," Meagan's mother said. "I hope people learn from this."

The Schmidts have since moved from New York to Simpsonville to be closer to relatives in South Carolina. Meagan's grandparents and great-grandparents, the Tuckers, are from Rock Hill.

Bob Schmidt now works on airport safety for the Department of Homeland Security. Meagan wants to help keep the country safe, too.

Meagan, a sociology major with a minor in criminology, plans to follow her dad into law enforcement and maybe one day work for the FBI.

More than anything else, she feels called to make sure "nobody has to go through what I did."

A day of reflection at Winthrop
A ceremony at Winthrop Univer-sity's Tillman Loop flagpole will start shortly after 8:30 a.m. today. At 8:46 a.m., the time the World Trade Center was attacked, student Marshall Woody will play taps. Woody is a trumpet performance major. Student organizers will place 2,000 small American flags in front of Byrnes Auditorium in honor of victims of the attacks. The Rev. David Brown of Oakland Baptist Church will speak at 9:11 a.m. Meagan Schmidt will speak during a service at 9:11 p.m., along with others who want to share.

A day of reflection at Winthrop

A ceremony at Winthrop Univer-sity's Tillman Loop flagpole will start shortly after 8:30 a.m. today. At 8:46 a.m., the time the World Trade Center was attacked, student Marshall Woody will play taps. Woody is a trumpet performance major.

Student organizers will place 2,000 small American flags in front of Byrnes Auditorium in honor of victims of the attacks.

The Rev. David Brown of Oakland Baptist Church will speak at 9:11 a.m. Meagan Schmidt will speak during a service at 9:11 p.m., along with others who want to share.