Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Yvonne Bonomo - a 2,996 Tribute

Last year's tribute (in connection with the 2,996 project) was to Jenniann Maffeo, a senior programmmer at UBS PaineWebber in New Jersey. Please visit the post to remember her, and if you knew her feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

This year we remember Yvonne Bonomo -- a corporate travel booker for American Express. She worked in the World Trade Center, Tower 1, 94th floor. She was 30 years old.

Following is what information -- snatches of memories -- I was able to locate. As before, if you have more please add to the comments.

• From CNN's tribute page to Yvonne:

  We were 14 when we met and you were always so sweet, funny and such a beautiful person. I will never forget you. When we met at the Trade Center we both screamed, kissed and hugged. Just like we did in high school.

• From PrayersforPeace, another memorial site:

  . . . I will always remember Yvonne Bonomo, who helped me in her job as an American Express Travel counselor. I talked with Yvonne several times a week. Many were the times she went out of her way to help me with a travel request, taking extra time to make sure my boss got the hotel reservation he needed, or some other special situation. She was always pleasant, always friendly and cheerful. It was a pleasure to know her. . . .

• From MMC's "Remembering Our Colleagues":

  We chatted on the bus sometimes, but your smile was always there, your jokes, and giggles and stories. I always admired your enthusiasum for work, friends, life, and the future you were planning...

• From the New York Times' Memorial:

  Yvonne Bonomo could not have taken more seriously the word "world" in World Trade Center. Not only was she a corporate travel booker for American Express, arranging last-minute global gallivants for executives at Marsh & McLennan on the 94th floor of 1 World Trade Center, but she also loved jetting around the world on the special corporate discounts offered to those in her job.

  Only days before the disaster, she returned from Las Vegas, where she had attended a close friend's bridal shower. Although Yvonne was living at home in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her mother, Sonia, and father, John, "she was really very independent," said her cousin, Richie Fabrizi.

  But Yvonne, 30, had contemplated sacrificing her cherished independence over the last year; she became engaged to her boyfriend, Anthony Vaccaro. "All we could tell him is that Yvonne's cellphone records show that she made a call to her mom at 8:51, after the plane hit," her cousin said. "That call never went through."

• From Newsday - "An Affectionate and Chatty Soul" March 22, 2002:

  "All her girlfriends nicknamed her Mother Goose," said her father, John Bonomo of Jackson Heights. "She stuck up for the group and cared for the group, and they valued her opinion."

  He had ample time to observe the group in action. Bonomo, 30, and her friends always gathered at the family's house for a glass of wine and a last-minute primping session before a night out clubbing in Manhattan.

  Saving money was one of the reasons Bonomo still lived at home. She and her fiance, Anthony Vaccaro, wanted to save for a down payment on a house before they got married.

  The other reason was simple -- she loved her family. She and her mother, Sonia, were especially close. "She was constantly calling her mother, from the bus, from work, on the bus coming home," her father said. "Every time she traveled, it cost me a fortune." Not in air fare - the trips to Aruba and Cancun were a perk of her job as a corporate travel booker for American Express -- but "because she called home collect," he said with a laugh.

  Personable and chatty, Bonomo "was positive, and funny as hell," said one friend, Melissa Allocco of Northport. She befriended her co-workers, her clients and even her fellow commuters on the express bus she rode each day to the World Trade Center . . .

• "Eleven Tears" - Description of American Express' own tribute to the 11 AMEX employees killed in the terrorist attack (including Yvonne):

  . . . The massive crystal is set into a stainless steel ring and suspended from the ceiling by 11 thin cables. Beneath the point of the upside-down tear is an 11 sided black granite pool; each side is inscribed with the name of an employee and a few words, selected by those who knew them best, to summarize the people they were.

  At random intervals, 11 drops of water fall from the ceiling into the pool, creating intersecting ripples, “symbolizing the connections among the close-knit group of colleagues and friends.” The fountain is surrounded by benches of matching black granite.

• Legacy.com Guestbook for Yvonne Bonomo.

* * *

This post is part of the 2,996 Tribute Project

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

Read other Tributes

|