Arlene Bradley-Lester is an autism therapist who works with children between the ages of 18 months and 5 years. She’s also the wife of FDNY’er Kirk Lester. 9/11 was Bradley-Lester’s first day back from summer vacation, excited to be reunited with 2 year old Jack, who she took every day that summer to the Unisphere, located between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Arlene was on the F subway train, on her way to Jack’s apartment when the train suddenly stopped. It stopped so long, Arlene was panicked that she was late for work. When it finally inched into the City Hall station, a few blocks from the twin towers, Arlene rushed up the stairs, confused by the masses of people coming down. When she made her way to the street, it was absolute mayhem.
People were running and screaming. There were shoes, people’s belongings and paper everywhere. Bradley-Lester stopped a woman to ask what was going on and in broken English the woman talked about a “plane hit”. Arlene looked up and saw the plane stuck in the tower. Arlene’s first thought, as an FDNY wife, was to rush to the tower to help people.
Debris was falling, but Arlene didn’t know if it was from the plane or glass from the tower raining down. Realizing that she could be killed by the debris, she made her way to young Jack’s apartment. Husband Kirk managed to call Arlene , yelling at her to get out of the area. While they were on the phone, the 2nd tower was hit. Arlene could hear the alarm sounding at Ladder 43. Kirk simply said, “I have to go”. Arlene didn’t hear from or see him for 3 long days. She didn’t know if he was dead or alive.