MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, was supposed to be an ordinary morning for Lisa Chilson Rose. Living just four miles north of the World Trade Center, the Montgomery woman was serving as a Southern Baptist missionary in New York City when history changed forever.
“It was a normal fall day,” Rose said. “I had gotten up, I was getting ready for work.”
Rose turned on The Today Show and learned a plane had struck the North Tower.
“Like a lot of New Yorkers at the time and a lot of people across the country… I thought it was an accident,” Rose recalled. “My coworkers came up to my apartment and sat around… and by the time they all got there, a second plane had hit. And we knew then it was not just an accident.”
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, was supposed to be an ordinary morning for Lisa Chilson Rose. Living just four miles north of the World Trade Center, the Montgomery woman was serving as a Southern Baptist missionary in New York City when history changed forever.(WSFA)
Cut off from her loved ones as phone lines collapsed across lower Manhattan, Rose was left unable to reassure her family back in Alabama.
“My family was in Alabama, they were not able to get in touch with me because our phone lines were down,” she said.
In the hours and days that followed, Rose and her fellow workers took to the streets of New York, setting up tables to hand out water to first responders, survivors, and displaced residents.
What started as roadside hospitality quickly expanded into an unprecedented volunteer response.
“Typically, each year we would have 700 volunteers come through our offices,” Rose said. “That year, if I remember correctly, it was almost 4,000 volunteers, including our disaster relief people.”
The devastation left an indelible mark, especially the air surrounding Ground Zero.
“Someone had told me that it smelled like death, and it did because so many people had perished,” Rose said.
Moved by the resilience of the community, Rose later authored a book detailing the personal stories and experiences of New Yorkers during the aftermath, a work she says God has used in remarkable ways.
Now, Rose finds herself back in New York City, reuniting with the colleagues who stood alongside her in 2001.
“We all wanted to be together during this significant moment,” Rose said.
During her time in the city, Rose plans to visit the 9/11 Memorial to pay her respects to the victims, and will speak at her former New York church this Sunday.
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