Libertyville Mom Remembers 9/11

On Sept. 11, 2001, Kathy Batesky was starting her day when her daughter called to ask if she was watching TV. She wasn’t and turned it on to witness the second plane crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

For a mother with a son who works in the World Trade Center, Batesky was relatively calm.

“We assumed he was safe because he was headed out to Philadelphia,” said Batesky, whose family has lived in Libertyville since 1973.

Batesky even called her son’s then fiancé, who also thought Batesky’s son was not in the building.

It turns out he was.

“He was signing in to go upstairs to the World Trade Center, heard a noise, headed outside and saw the second plane go into the building. He knew he had to get out of there,” Batesky said. “He was under the canopy and so were a whole bunch of other people and as he’s there, bodies are hitting the top of the canopy, the car, he’s seeing all of this.”

Luckily for the Bateskys, her son was able to find a bus shuttling people out of the city and called his parents later to let them know he was safe.

But the first few years after the attacks were hard for her son.

“He was very leery of flying after that,” she said. “He said the smell stayed with him forever.”

At first, Batesky was worried her son would have post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I’m sure it’s something that pops his mind, and I can’t believe he doesn’t re-live it at some point,” she said.

Batesky says her son has been able to deal with some anxiety issues with the help and support of the family.

Now a decade later, the family rarely discusses the Sept. 11 attacks. Batesky says she’s grateful her son is safe but is sad for families who lost loved ones on that day. Since 9/11, Batesky has commemorated those people with an addition outside her house.

“From that time on I’ve hung a flag up and never taken it down,” she said.