Among the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001 terror attacks, 6 were Mainers. Attorney James Roux of Portland, an Army veteran and father, was one of them. He was headed to a business meeting in California on United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane to hit the World Trade Center. Sally Tartre is Roux's older sister.
Note: This transcript was lightly edited for clarity.
Sally Tartre: One of my siblings knew he was flying that day, which I did not. I thought he had said the day before. They were sitting together with my mom and one of my siblings, and they knew what flight he was on. And the way they found out was from the TV, you know, on the bottom of the TV, that ticket came across: Flight 175. And they knew that was his flight.
My mom, I would say that was probably her greatest heartache in her life. You know, I really think from that day on, she just never was the same, to be honest. I don't know. I just think it was too much for her. For any of us, really.
I didn't really know him growing up. I mean, we were there were six of us. So the first three are kind of out of the house before. You know, we're off to college, and they came back but as an adult, I just started to get to know him. I was traveling, I was, you know, staying with him in Connecticut. I just felt like I ended up having at least a relationship with him as an adult. I felt like that was kind of taken away from me, you know, the first time I really connected with him. And then it was gone.
He didn't really get to know my family or you know, any of that stuff. You know, my kids, and what's happened, he's only 42. So that's what I really think about when I think about him and how much he's missed, I guess. In life in general. I used to do a memorial hike every year for him, he hiked Mount Washington. And so a group of us didn't used to those, only about 20 of us, who probably did that for seven or eight years. Now, it's not more like the marker of like September 11. I would say we think of him on his birthday or we think of him on weddings or we think of him at graduation like he's just not there. You know, and, you know, there were six kids and I always say it's like a piece of the puzzle that's not finished. You know, there's always that piece missing.
