Five years ago, on September 11th, while I went to bed early, Denis F. Lavelle started his day as accountant for Syncorp Insurance, a division of Marsh & McLennan, in the World Trade Center, Tower 1.
Half a world away. The end of a beautiful Spring day in Australia, the start of a fine Fall day in the United States.
By the time I woke up, the world had changed immeasurably and the man behind this beautiful smile had left us forever.
Today, as part of the 2,996 project, I join together with fellow bloggers worldwide to remember the 2,996 precious souls lost on September 11th. For those of us fortunate enough to have been spared the loss of a loved one on this day, by participating in this project, these people will be strangers to us no more.
So.....let me tell you a little about Denis.
Denis Francis Lavelle was the son of Emily Lavelle and the late Francis M. Lavelle of Yonkers, New York. Denis was one of six children, with four sisters and a brother. Denis was also the much loved uncle of several nieces and nephews.
Denis graduated from Saunders Trade and Technical High School in Yonkers and from Pace University.
In researching material for this memorial, two things really stood out about Denis. His warm personality, with a sense of fun and a ready smile. His kindness and generosity.
"My brother, Denis, was a great person. I don’t think he did a wrong thing in life. He was good to everyone. He would give you the shirt off his back."
Marie Paprocki, sister.
Nowhere was this more apparent than in his devotion to his mother, Emily, who had been widowed when Denis was just 16. Over the years, his mother became severely arthritic. Denis, unmarried, remained living with his mother, helping her around the house.
"He was so devoted to her. He was a dedicated son."
Marie Paprocki, sister.
Weekends would find Denis taking his mother to Mass and to the Italian restaurants on Central Avenue. Denis had a real passion for Italian food.
"I used to make pasta and broccoli for family gatherings and he couldn’t get enough of it. I have not had the heart to make it since the September 11th tragedy."
Marie Paprocki, sister.
Please take a minute of your time to think about Denis F. Lavelle and to pray for his family and friends .
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."
Source unknown.
28 comments:
Well done. We will never forget.
I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to attend to this project.
This is a beautiful but sad post. The day the world truly changed. Prayers and blessings to his family.
great blog about Denis and the innocence lost on such a tragic and unforgettable day may we never forget
Sa'de
I echo many of the same thoughts that have posted before me. You've written a wonderful tribute to an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. It saddens me to see the waste and loss to the families and friends of these fine people. I know that his family would be moved by your touching tribute.Thank you for remembering Denis. My tribute is for a FDNY firefighter named Durrell Pearsall, please drop by and visit.
Beautifully written tribute to Denis. Thanks for stopping by my tribute to Marjorie C. Salamone.
Thank you for honouring Denis. He is no longer just a name to us.
Mine is up.
Lovely tribute, well done x
Great tribute, if I should fall victim to a terrorist event, it is comforting to know there would be people that refused to forget.
Again, your tribute is one of the best I've come across. I did my tribute and now a day and some from the 5th year after, I am checking out blogs that already have tributes.
You have done a good job of memorializing one who deserves tribute. No movie star, no not a politician or rich person, Dennis was common, but he was murdered, and your blog tribute goes a long way in explaining to the banal and anal.......that real, just people are the target of the terrorists, for they could never fight on a battlefield, they have to kill civilians.
God bless you, didn't catch the name, but you brought honor to Denis, who should never have died,
Later, John
aka webloafer
Beautiful tribute Health Psych! I am so touched by all the folks from your country, and others, who have shared in our grief and signed on to be part of this tribute. Thank you so much for understanding our pain.
We lost so many beautiful people on that day.
I'm going to add your email to my comment section. Thanks for taking the time to send it....:)
Dennis sounds like a very loving man. How can you not love a guy who likes pasta with broccoli? You can also tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his mom.
Thanks for sharing Dennis' life with us.
My tribute to Brenda C. Gibson is also up.
Wonderful tribute to a lovely man. Thank you for participating in this project to honor 2996 people, not just Americans, who lost their lives in this horrendous attack on freedom. We will never forget!
Please invite your readers to view my special tribute to Cynthia Wilson who died when WTC Tower 1 fell.
Thanks everyone for dropping by to honour Denis F. Lavelle.
Just wanted to say that I've visited all of your tributes (and others) but that some I have been unable to leave a comment on (particularly beta blogger users)!
Thank you so much for doing this. You've made Denis warm and real for all of us.
We must all remember ...
A beautiful tribute. We lost so many beautiful souls that day.
Please read my tribute to Major Dwayne Williams, who was lost at the Pentagon.
I am so touched by the tributes from Australia. Thank you from your friends in America.
Denis and his family are in my thoughts and prayers. ((())) What a nice smile he has! I love the last quote you put in by the unknown source. Your tribute really touched my heart.
A lovely tribute to a lovely person. Thank you for this. My tribute to John Talignani is up as well.
I think offering a tribute like this is wonderful. What a great man he was.
~Deb
Too late I discovered the 2996 project and today of all days, the link is "temporarily out of service" or "This page cannot be displayed". Too soon we do forget. I blogged about how this generation will remember 911. http://activerain.com/blogsview/Nine-One-One?7911 My generation adds to that the assasination of President Kennedy, Viet Nam, and others. My parents' generation remembers where they were on D-Day and other WWII events. The prisoners from Nazi German death camps remember those things all too vividly and yet others try to deny that they existed. Thanks to today's technology and bloggers more personal memories will be available to future generations, but at some point 911 will only be a sentence in someone's history book. Life is short and tenuous, and each generation has to experience its tragedies to learn how to live life to its fullest. For today . . . I, too, remember.
Wonderful Tribute!
Thank you.
These are sad and hard to read....
I am honored to be a part of this project.
Mine is posted also...
The 2996 link is down. I have a new link on my site to view the participants.
Bless you...
I pray for each and every person who lost someone on that day, and for everyone on this earth that hate will lose the battle.
A lovely tribute. Thank you for making Denis more than a name on a memorial wall for me. Also thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share two amazing people, Susan and Jon, who, regretfully, I never had the great fortune to meet.
BTW Good luck on the grad studies. Great field. My mum's a psych dr.!
this day continues to overwhelm me. Denis was a great man, which you illustrated very well.
we will never forget.
Thank you for this glimpse of Denis and his life and family.
You really can tell alot about a man by the way they treat their mother, as a previous commenter said.
It brings the personal nature of this tragedy home.
My tribute to Gricelda James is up at my blog.
And thank you as well, for caring enough from across the sea, to be one with us in America in our grief.
Awesome tribute!! Another face instead of just numbers.
Thank you.
My tribute to Simon Weiser is here: www.tailorsmoms.blogspot.com
I know I am a day late but it was impossible to visit each and every tribute yesterday. There wasn't enough time. That is amazing in itself. So many people died that day that I couldn't give each one at least two minutes. Horrible.
Thank you for helping us remember Denis.
Thank you for remembering Denis with a wonderful tribute.
Faina's Tribute
This was a beautiful tribute to what sounds like a wonderful man. Anyone whose sister would speak so highly of him after death must have been larger than life when alive. His mother, too, was lucky to have known his love.
Thank you for your tribute to Dennis and bringing a face to a name for all of us to remember. This was not just an America's tragedy but a worlds.
We will never foget.
I remember Lisa Egan
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