On the five year anniversary of September 11, 2001, I remember Matthew Douglas Horning.
For several weeks, I’ve scoured the internet looking for some insight into who this young man was. I know I was assigned a 9/11 victim at random, but as I searched, I was astonished how much Matthew and I had in common. Matthew was a guy I would’ve loved to have known. He was a “techie” like me, and a guitarist just like my husband. He was born just a month before my husband. He was young, in love, and passionate about life.
Matthew Horning lived in Hoboken, NJ and was a database administrator for Marsh & McLennan insurance company. He was in love with his girlfriend (and soon to be fiancee) Maura Landry and dreamed of happiness with her and their future family. About Matthew’s simple and sincere dreams, his girlfriend remarked, “We didn’t have to live in the biggest house on the street, but the people inside had to be happy.”
Matthew was a graduate of James Madison University. He was a humble, selfless and giving man who loved animals. He was a devoted fan of his favorite New York sports teams, the Mets and Jets. He loved Star Wars and aspired one day to write a fantasy novel or comic book.
Matthew was at work on the 95th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center when terrorists took his life. According to USA Today, he survived the initial impact of the hijacked jet and sent text messages to a colleague outside the building until shortly before the tower collapsed. Among them, his father said, was the message, “Tell Maura I love her.”
According to USA Today, after forensic teams sifted through remains at ground zero, Matthew’s family received a few of his possessions and three small fragments of his body. The rest of his ashen remains have inexplicably been placed in the Fresh Kills landfill along with those of hundreds of other 9/11 victims. As a result, Matthew’s parents, Diane and Kurt Horning, have started an advocacy group called WTC Families for Proper Burial. According to the group’s website, they “seek to inform the general public of the injustice of leaving the ashen remains of those killed at the WTC in a garbage dump, the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island.” Despicably, Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York have taken the position that the ashen remains should not be removed from the landfill.
Despite the way that Matthew’s remains have been treated, his spirit lives on. After meeting Matthew’s mother at a memorial service in October 2001, Mario and Karen Canzoneri promised Mrs. Horning that their next Red Cross therapy dog would be named Matthew. A year later, that promise came true. The Canzoneri’s new Golden Retriever was named Mattie (AKC Matthew D. Horning the Second). Mattie carries a picture of Matthew around his neck.
Matthew, I wish I could have known you. The world is a better place because you were in it, if just for a little while.
What a beautiful tribute. And what a hero Matthew was to our country. His family and girlfriend should be very proud of him…he sounds like a wonderful person! Many prayers go out to his family, and to all the other friends and family that are remembering their loved ones that lost their lives in this tragic event!
What a beautiful person he was and a wonderful spirit I imagine he is now. Much love and support to his family.
Beautifully written tribute. I was given an insight into an individuals life whom without this tribute I may have never known. It made me aware of issues pertaining to the 9/11 victims remains that I previously had no knowledge of. I now plan to do some research of my own to learn more.
Thank you for touching my heart with this piece & making me more aware.
That made me cry.
Very well done! You’ve done Matthew’s family proud with your touching tribute.
That was very touching. Last night I was thinking about Carol Flyzik. She was a consultant for our company and on Flight 11 out of Boston. I knew her face, but I never had the chance to know her. After the attacks, I heard from people what a wonderful person she was. She touched everyone that she knew. You’re right, the world is a better place because these people were in it. It’s so strange to sit here today and remember it all. It seems like a dream, an unreal dream, one that I wish wasn’t real.
That the towers were not only buildings, but people who wanted what we all want, and lived like you and me, is what we should remember when we think of the tragedy that occured five years ago. What a wonderful tribute to someone like Matthew, who was no different from any other person, but paid the ultimate sacrifice. God bless everyone in this world, and bring peace and comfort to all.
moving. thank you very much for sharing. i would love to see a website where there’s a searchable database that has tributes like this for each of the persons who lost their lives at 9/11. they each deserve such a loving and thoughtful tribute.
On this day, it is so very important that we put first the lives of those who were taken from us without warning and without a good-bye. Today, our personal and political agendas are set aside and we mourn together as a community of Americans who were all impacted and touched by the loss of these ordinary Americans living out their lives just as we are today.
Matthew was one of these people and you honor him well. As we read about his life and his legacy, my prayer is for his family and his beautiful Maura that they would be comforted by the life he led and the memory they carry.
Tomorrow, as our lives go on and the tributes end, may we pick up the mantle of freedom and not impose it on others, but live it out in our daily lives. May we see the unseen, may we feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and touch our fellow man with love and hope. Loving one another is the greatest honor we can give those we lost.
Thanks for keeping the memory of those who fell much too early alive. I am proud of the actions of his parents in their advocacy, and am touched by the knowledge of Matt’s love for his girlfriend even in his most frantic moment. Thanks.
You did a fantastic job; what a tribute! It brought tears to my eyes.
Ileana
Wonderful Tribute!
Thank you.
These are heartbreaking stories and difficult to read….
I am honored to be a part of this project.
Mine is posted also…
Bless you…
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thank you for sharing Matthew’s story with us..
My thoughts and prayers were with all the families on this 5th Anniversary of 9/11.
God bless you,
Hugs,
BrassyLady (2,996 blogger)
You may visit my tribute at:
http://www.geocities.com/brassylady57/InMemoryOf/MarkandStephenColaio.html
“Tell Maura I love her”…
A love story behind the “human remains” found at Ground Zero: Read this when you have a chance today. More on Matthew D. Horning from Poetic Exodus, who honored him as part of the 2996 Project…….
I came here today from Michelle Malkin’s site after reading that Matt’s bones had been found. Thank you for this great reminder that on that gloriously bright and hellishly dark September morning, we didn’t just lose 3,000 people, we lost one wonderful person at a time, 3,000 times.
A story about Matthew Horning:
“Tell Maura I Love Her”
http://conprotantor.blogspot.com/2006/10/tell-maura-i-love-her_22.html
thanks for keeping matt’s memory alive. i graduated high school with matt and attended his services…as you can imagine, there was a line wrapped around the funeral home and it was completely packed with people telling funny matt stories and sharing their memories. he is missed by many…
I grew up across the street from Matt from the age of 3 onwards and I was his roommate of 3 years at the time of his death. I am sure that his family appreciates your keeping his memory alive as much (very likely more) than I do. If you want more information about Matt, he was a huge Mets and Jets fan, we attended over a hundred Met games together during our lives. I used to drive past the WTC on my way to Shea and I would call him on my cell phone when I was getting close so he could look out the window for my car, which he claimed he could occasionally see from the 95th floor, though I repeatedly told him that if his vision was that good he would be playing baseball and not watching it. Five years down the road I still think about him all the time. Friends like him don’t come around often. Again, thanks for keeping his name alive.
amazing content. I is unable to imagine it is the 10 year 9.11 anniversary date presently. I don’t treatment just what the growing media states, it’s extremely clear it was a false flag assault through the U . s . government. Osama Bin Laden was basically the particular blame puppet. Everything the United States federal government states as fact is entire half truths. Now we all wish for our missing friends and loved ones.
Self Treatment…
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