Salem Rotary Honors 9/11 Widow [VIDEO]

Katrina Marino says that she only remembers bits and pieces from the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, but she does remember very specific moments from the day her husband was killed.

Marino remembers taking her two kids, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, to the firehouse to see her husband Kenneth very early that morning.

“He took the kids and put them on the fire truck, and it was just really a nice special morning that we had not planned,” Marino said.

Marino was in the city early to take her daughter to a 9 a.m. appointment.

Another moment that is implanted in her mind involves ice cream.

Long after planes had slammed into the two towers of the World Trade Center, and even after one of those towers had collapsed, she remembers the already crying children were going to make it a difficult ride home if they didn’t get ice cream.

“The lady at the counter was like, ‘you’re getting ice cream?’ I was like, ‘you don’t understand.’” Marino said.

Marino’s sister told her later on that she had called her to say that she had seen the building come down and that Kenny was in it.

Marino knew he would be there, being a member of FDNY Rescue 1.

“They are like any other firehouse but they go to anything that is major. That’s pretty much their first line of duty that they do,” she said.

Marino referred to leaving the city as the “escape from New York,” with bridges closing and traffic blocked everywhere.

When she managed to get out with the kids and head North, a dozen messages were waiting on her voicemail.

One was a hodgepodge of sirens, which she accidentally deleted but later found out was Kenny’s father looking for them, not realizing his son was working.

After that, it was a crazy blend of hours, days and weeks.

“Everything after, everything has been so surreal because you don’t think that your loved one is not going to come back, you think ‘oh, he’s just working,’” she said.

Marino said that her husband was never recovered, and it wasn’t until October that a service was held.

A piece of his helmet was later found at Ground Zero, showing the numbers.

“It’s something tangible, something that I can see that has part of him in it,” she said.

Every member of FDNY Rescue 1 was killed responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City.

Marino has since moved back to Haverhill, Mass., where she and her husband were originally from. Kenny Marino spent 20 years serving as a firefighter before his death at age 40.

Salem Rotary Club President Peter Rayno told Marino on Sept. 14 that a donation will be made in her husband’s name to a firefighter’s foundation in New York.

After sharing her story at Atkinson Country Club, she was presented with flowers and honored by the Rotary, including several police and fire officials from Windham and Salem in attendance.

The event has become a tradition in the last couple of years for the club, with Windham Fire Chief Tom McPherson speaking last year after his department acquired a piece of the World Trade Center steel.