Through Project 2996 this blog once again pays tribute to a victim of 9/11.
This year we honor Samuel (Sandy) Ayala who died in the World Trade Center on that fateful and tragic day.
Sandy Ayala stayed close to his mother and three siblings. So close, in fact, that after he married, he insisted that he and his wife live with the family in the apartment where he was raised on East 113th Street, in East Harlem.
After he and his wife, Leyda Ayala, separated, he often took his daughter Samantha to the gym where he worked part-time as a personal trainer, and during the summer he would take her and her new half siblings to Coney Island and Orchard Beach.
On Sept. 11, he was working overtime as a banquet arranger at Windows on the World ‹ after his usual all-night shift ‹ to save money for a gift for Samantha's 12th birthday.
But that dedication was mixed with anxiety. "He was always afraid he would die young and never live to see his daughter grow up," Mrs. Ayala said. "He used to say he wouldn't live past 36." There was no real reason for it, since he had been weight- training all his life and was in superb physical condition, she added.
He died a month after his 36th birthday.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 12, 2001.
Source
Some friends and family members of Sandy left messages at a guest book created Sandy was killed. You can see who much he was loved and missed.
Guest book
I will be offering my Rosary intentions, and Holy Communion for the repose of Sandy's soul, on September 11th, 2010.
Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord
and may your perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace.
Amen.
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can
steal." - from a headstone in Ireland
steal." - from a headstone in Ireland
I remember, we all need to remember!, to never, ever, ever forget . . . . Samuel Ayala, and ALL of the unkonwn Samuels! It still hurts, there is still a wound that only our Savior can heal. i forgive as our Lord instructs, yet I'll never, ever forget this somber, sad, horrific event in American history. I turn all of it, in it's darkness, to our Lord, to use it for His purposes. And I pray to our Lord and His Father for guidance for our nation in selecting the proper leadership to defend us against the war of the Jihad and anti-Christian Faith. In His precious name of Jesus, we pray together. Amen
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