Words Where No Bodies Lie

When the attacks hit 10 years ago, Reverend Michael Palmer of , was out for a cup of coffee at Orem’s after a regular morning mass. He got back to his home, turned on the television, and the World Trade Center was burning.

As a boy, Palmer had watched his father’s face etch into concern and sadness as the radio broadcasted news of Pearl Harbor having been bombed. He didn’t fully understand that look then, but 60 years later on 9/11, he understood it completely.

“I had that certain feeling, a dread that one or maybe more of the victims would be from our parish. Tyler [Ugolyn], his first job was in that area, I knew that,” said Palmer.

“What also struck me was that, watching the replays over and over again, it was a full-sized plane. This wasn’t an accident. Then one the second one hit, well, who in the world would deny it?”

Leaving his house, he crossed over to Lady Fatima Church and began to pray. He asked for strength for the men working in the Trade Centers, strength for the families of those who may have perished, and strength for himself.

“It was my hardest year in the 35 years that I’ve been here. Reaching out to the children, the families, it was tough....There was this overwhelming sense of ‘this changes our lives.’”

In total, five men from Wilton, and one young Our Lady of Fatima parishioner—the afforementioned —were killed in the attacks.

“The families had 11 children between them. The widows were not only in shock, but had to ask questions they never had to ask before. Gnawing questions. Without the breadwinner, who would they turn to for direction, for support? They had to add that to the great grief of dealing with their children. Two of the widows called me the day or the day after 9/11 to let me know their husbands had not come home. The police checked the cars in the rail road parking lot here.”

As the towers fell, Wilton banded in an “overwhelming coming together, not only of our parishioners, but of the whole town,” said Palmer.

Within a month, to the Reverend’s recollection, $300,000 had been donated to a fund which Palmer and Our Lady of Fatima Church had set up to aid the victims. The money was split depending on the amount of children in the household, he said, with four of the victims' families left with two children, and one family left with three.

“I’ve had funds for families for years, it was never publicized. Some families would come in seeking help and some families would come in to donate for such and such family,” said Palmer. "But there was never anything like this.

“There were no remains, except for one, who I think jumped away from the flames,” he said.

With no remains, and therefore no grave stones, Palmer immediately set out to erect a memorial shrine within the Our Lady of Fatima grounds, where it is to this day. On the plaque (pictured) is a write-up of some of the Reverend’s reflections on the day. Below is a transcription of that plaque. It speaks for itself.

Inscription by Father Palmer, on a 9/11 memorial plaque outside of Our Lady of Fatima Church

“The grief and sense of loss created by the death of good people on September 11^th was deep and painful for all of us, but especially for those families who lost a husband and father. For most of our own five families, one of the most heart-rending parts was expressed by a couple of the children who said, ‘Where can we go to be near our Dad? There is no grave, no cemetery.’

The yearning became the inspiration for the construction of a prayer shrine outside of Our Lady of Fatima Church, next to the handicapped access walkway. The memorial stone reads:

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Dedicated to the loving memory of our parishioners

Edward Fergus

Peter Fry

John Henwood

John Iskyan

Edward York

Gone Home to God

September 11, 2001

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The centerpiece of the shrine is a statue of a priest named Vincent DePaul, who was also a shining example of compassion toward families, and especially children, who were the victims of violence and war in 17^th century France. This statue also includes two children. One is a baby resting on Vincent’s shoulder. The second is a young girl looking trustingly to him for protection and help. All together, this scene provides a truly Christ-like vision of compassion and outreach to the needy.

 This memorial shrine has become a source of strength and hope, not only for families of the five victims, but also, I believe, for our community. It communicates the message that even after life’s greatest tragedies, when the most important people in our lives are suddenly taken away from us, that God, especially through caring and compassionate people, will give us the power to survive and carry on.

Times of war can bring out the worst elements of our humanity but they can draw forth some of the best qualities as well.

The period between 1639 and 1653 was a very sad one in France, a time when the Civil War of the Frond added more misery to the French phase of the Thirty Years War. In the fighting that raged on, private armies of mercenaries preyed mercilessly upon the countryside, destroying villages and crops, burning and murdering peasantry who were reduced to near hopelessness and starvation. During this murderous rage neither old age nor infancy was spared.

Vincent DePaul took over the very difficult work of relief for the innocent victims of a society where the poor counted for little in a time of peace and for nothing in a time of war. Vincent established soup kitchens to provide emergency food for the neediest. He begged for money and support from those who were better off, who could share their resources. Boys and girls with nothing were trained for work and given a sense of hope and purpose for their lives.

Our statue, typical of the popular image of Vincent, pictures him with two needy orphans. This is in recognition of the life saving work he did on behalf of orphans and foundlings. The stories live on of how he would travel at night during the war into the slums of Paris and then return to the orphanage he founded with babies that he had saved from abandonment and certain death. In five years, he and those who worked with him, rescued 1,200 such infants.

Vincent was always practical in his work with the poor and neglected. He said, “Do the good that presents itself to be done….those things that God lets us know he wants of us…if he increases our work, he also adds to our strength.

In the face of numbing tragedy, or when the number of the needy seems to be overwhelming and beyond our ability to help, Vincent DePaul, like other saints throughout history, teaches us a vital God-inspired lesson in charity. “You cannot do it all by yourself and neither God not anyone else expects you do it all by yourself. However each of us all can do something, and probably more than we realize at first.”  To reach out and help even one needy person gives hope and strength to at least two people, the giver and receiver. But it also has the creative power to inspire many other acts of charity, and no one can put limits on just how far such a chain reaction of loving deeds can go. A few small drops can combine into a trickle and later a stream and finally even have the potential to become a flood of love and goodness.

Father Palmer”

On this coming Sunday at 10 a.m., a 9/11 memorial ceremony will be held at the . The public is encouraged to attend.