Remembering Our Own
Sept. 11, 2026 marks a quarter century since the attacks, so we’re setting aside the usual rankings this week to remember five Monroe County neighbors who never came home.
Lopez worked for Fiduciary Trust on the 97th floor of the South Tower. After the first plane hit the North Tower, he called his wife, Wanda, to tell her he was safe: “I’m here and something happened in the other building. Either an explosion or a bomb.” He told her he’d call again once he got out. The Lopezes had two young kids, a daughter in third grade at Pocono Elementary Center in Tannersville and a 4-year-old son. Wanda’s employer, Century 21 Millennium, set up a fund for the family.
Flounders had moved to the Poconos from Brooklyn Heights a few years before 2001, trading city life for a commute that started at 3:30 a.m.: drive to New Jersey, catch a train into Manhattan, be at his desk by 8:30. He worked as a money-market broker for EuroBrokers on the 84th floor of the South Tower.
Mary and her husband had bought a house in the area about a year and a half before the attacks and were still settling into Pocono life, commuting two hours each way to her job as a vice president at Fiduciary Trust Company, a role she’d worked her way up to over 15 years. She was on the 90th floor of the South Tower when the second plane hit. Her niece said Mary called her husband right after, telling him not to worry: “It’s not my building.”
Blanding worked as a claims examiner for Aon Corp., whose offices sat in the impact zone of the South Tower. Described by family as “the life of the party,” he coached youth football for the Pleasant Valley Cubs and was a devoted New York sports fan. He’d moved to Blakeslee from New Jersey. He left behind his wife, Debbie, their 4-year-old daughter Hayley, and two younger sons.
A Port Authority police officer stationed at the Holland Tunnel and a Vietnam veteran, McNeil was among the first responders who reported to the Trade Center after the first plane struck. He was last seen setting up a command post before the South Tower was hit.
Five Monroe County lives lost.
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