A Seaford woman killed during the Feb. 26, 1993 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center (WTC) is being remembered Tuesday on the 20th anniversary of the attack.
Monica Rodriguez Smith, who was born in Equador and moved to Seaford when she married her husband Ed in 1990, was one of six people killed during the first attack on the WTC when a truck bomb exploded in an underground garage below the North Tower. Smith worked in the Twin Towers as an administrator with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The 35-year-old woman was seven months pregnant when killed and was scheduled go on maternity leave the next day.
On Tuesday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is marking the 20th anniversary of the attack by presenting a plaque to family members of those killed. The plaque will be presented during a mass at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Lower Manhattan. A moment of silence is scheduled at 12:18 a.m. at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, where there will be a reading of the six victims' names.
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“This tragic event, in which six people were senselessly murdered, is a day that will be forever etched in the memories of all Port Authority staff,” said Port Authority Chairman David Samson in a statement. “It is fitting that, as time goes on, we continue to stop and reflect on this terrible tragedy and the lives that were needlessly lost.”
Islamic fundamentalist Ramzi Yousef was the mastermind behind the 1993 attack and is in pirson serving a life sentence. Just eight years later, the World Trade Center was destroyed when Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda flew two hihjacked commercial airplanes into both towers, ultimately bringing them down and killing nearly 3,000 people.
Smith's husband remembered his fallen wife on the website 911memorial.org :
"Monica was a vivacious, outgoing person who was full of energy – she was the life of the party. At the same time, she was a natural mom to the people around her. Being the only daughter in a family of four boys, she was very comfortable at the Port Authority – an environment that was mostly men. After we got married, I worked and went to night school, and I wouldn’t get home until late. Monica would make sure there was something warm for dinner waiting for me. That’s just the kind of person she was."
