![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a0297bb0-8ade-4384-a1c8-36527f2a84dc_1477672142.jpg\")
<\/a>UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\nTwenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Lynn Boris, a former preschool teacher in Lower Manhattan, is being recognized for her heroic actions that day with a memorial cobblestone at the 9\/11 Memorial, dedicated by the family of the child she carried to safety. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn honor of Lynn Boris, forever grateful to our hero,\u201d the cobblestone reads. <\/p>\n
Boris received a replica of the cobblestone at her Upper St. Clair home, a gift from Erica\u2019s family. <\/p>\n
\u201cYour cobblestone is more than a tribute. It’s a permanent reminder of the resilience, unity, and service that defined our collective response to September 11, 2001,\u201d the family said. <\/p>\n
Reflecting on the recognition, Boris said, \u201cIt’s hard not to feel incredibly humbled by it.\u201d <\/p>\n
On Sept. 11, 2001, Boris, a Long Island native, was teaching at Trinity Preschool, part of the historic Trinity Church, located just a short walk from the World Trade Center. <\/p>\n
She heard the first plane hit the North Tower but didn\u2019t know what had happened. When the second plane struck, she began receiving calls from concerned parents. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had called a few people to find out what was going on, and I also was receiving phone calls, parents saying, ‘I’m going to be late,’ or, ‘Something’s happening at the World Trade Center.’ And I had said, ‘OK, well, we’re safe. Everything is OK. We’re good.’ Until we weren’t,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
Parents rushed to the preschool to pick up their children, but Erica, not yet two years old, remained. Suddenly, the preschool building shook, and smoke began pushing into the basement where teachers, children, and parents had taken shelter. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust a lot of shaking and rumbling and smoke coming through. Even in the basement, smoke was coming through. We had baby wipes that we were putting over children, over ourselves,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
When everyone was directed outside, Boris picked up Erica and stepped into a city transformed by devastation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like utter devastation,\u201d Boris said. \u201cThere’s all smoke. I mean, like, foot thick with dust, debris. I had never seen anything like it. Things were still flying out \u2014 debris flying out, mostly paperwork. And you just really couldn’t see anything. It was really dark.\u201d <\/p>\n
Boris and the other teachers hurried away from the danger, staying together as Lower Manhattan disappeared beneath a cloud of ash and debris. She carried Erica far from the destruction. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re thinking of, just keep going. Just keep going. I had to be aware of who I was around, too, because I needed to make sure we were all still together,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
Erica fell asleep on Boris\u2019s shoulder, and worried that the dust or trauma had hurt her, Boris used the little water she had to keep Erica awake. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know what possessed me to not let her sleep, but I didn’t want her to sleep. I wanted her to stay awake,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
Eventually, Boris and Erica were reunited with Erica\u2019s mother, Debra. Today, Erica, now grown and living in New York City, still calls Boris her family\u2019s hero. <\/p>\n
Two years ago, Boris visited Lower Manhattan for the first time since the attacks, bringing her sons, Nicholas and Ryan, to Trinity Church and the reflecting pools where the towers once stood. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first place I wanted to take them, but I was really scared because I hadn’t been down there. I hadn’t seen the pools. It’s just really, really difficult to go down there,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
For Ryan, standing at the site made his mother\u2019s story \u2014 and the enormity of that day \u2014 real. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me feel lucky to have my mom as my mom,\u201d Ryan said. <\/p>\n
He saw the sorrow reflected in the pools but also the courage of the people who ran toward danger and the ordinary people who stopped to help others. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they don’t forget that compassion comes first, and that this is a good example of it,\u201d Ryan said. <\/p>\n
Boris remembers the terror but also the unity that followed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe hope and the unity \u2014 the community together,\u201d Boris said. \u201cThere was hope in the horror that day.\u201d <\/p>\n
She believes part of healing is remembering and reflecting on that day while moving forward with grace and dignity. <\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the healing, I think, is always remembering and then reflecting on that day, and then knowing that you move forward with grace, you move forward with dignity and keep living because that’s what it’s all about. And never forget,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
Boris believes divine intervention guided her and Erica through the smoke. <\/p>\n
\u201cI see it as God watching over. That’s what I see it as. I see it as divine intervention,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
For Boris, time has brought healing, but the memories remain vivid. <\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-five years goes by very fast. But the second you think about that day, if you really allow yourself to think about that day, it still feels like yesterday,\u201d Boris said. <\/p>\n
Her hope for the next generation is simple: \u201cMy hope is nobody ever forgets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"25 years after Sept. 11, former preschool teacher honored by child she carried to safety UPPER ST. CLAIR,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[34583,1583,129103,9433,129098,129097,4683,73247,129101,26708,776,359,129094,75,84,83,129099,128572,9,24,63725,63,3039,129100,129102,64174,54358,11803,11199,41293,129095,59816,129096,7037,3442],"class_list":["post-344335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-9-11-memorial","tag-child","tag-concerned-parent","tag-day","tag-debra","tag-erica","tag-family","tag-healing","tag-heroic-actions","tag-hope","tag-long-island","tag-lower-manhattan","tag-lynn-boris","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-memorial-cobblestone","tag-never-forget","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nicholas","tag-nyc","tag-part","tag-preschool-teacher","tag-reflecting-pools","tag-ryan","tag-sept-11","tag-september-11","tag-smoke","tag-trinity-church","tag-trinity-preschool","tag-unity","tag-upper-saint-clair","tag-world-trade-center","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}