9/11 Victim's Children Give Mom Strength [VIDEO]

On Sunday, Lynn Morris-Piccolo, her four children and her husband, Mark Piccolo, will attend the dedication of the

Morris-Piccolo’s former husband, Seth Morris, was a partner at Cantor-Fitzgerald on 9/11. He was on the 105th floor of the north tower when the first plane hit the building.

Moments after the impact, Morris was on the phone with his wife putting her mind at ease. But they weren’t talking about airplanes and towers, or even bombs and terrorists. They were talking about their 5-year-old daughter, Hayley. Morris-Piccolo had called because Hayley had been crying when she dropped her off for the second day of kindergarten. 

“He had a full conversation with me,” she said. “He said, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll have her friends over this weekend. We’ll have a play date. She’ll be fine.’ I said, ‘All right. Great.’ And then he said, ‘Oh, by the way, there was an explosion here today in the . It’s just like ’93. So if you can’t reach me today, don’t worry. The phones won’t be working. Too many people will be calling. I’ll be home.'”

Remembering the terrorist attack that occurred on Feb. 26, 1993, she told him to get off the phone and get out of the building. He told her he was leaving and that he loved her.

“And that was it,” she said.

Neither one of them knew that a plane had hit the building.

“At that point I thought it was an accident. He thought it was a transformer or something,” she said.

In a split second, Morris-Piccolo, who had been on her way to work at the family’s , turned her car around and headed home, listening to the radio as she went. Her mother and sisters, with their families, joined her at her house. Her brother-in-law picked up her three children from school. Like many Americans, she saw the towers fall as she watched the television. 

“I didn’t give up hope for a long time,” she said. “I really thought he’d still make it home.” 

In the middle of the night, when he was still not home by 3 a.m., she realized he would not be coming home. Their children, Madelyn, 9, Kyle, 7, and Hayley, 5.

“What I wanted for my children was for them to have a normal life,” Morris-Piccolo said.

In the face of a very public loss, she put her children first. She wanted to get back to basics and provide them with stability and normalcy. She did not want their lives to be about tragedy. She did not want them to be defined solely by 9/11. So, she encouraged them to follow their dreams. 

“I love them more than life itself and I want them to be everything their father and I wanted them to be and that’s what gives me strength,” she said.

A lifelong Kinnelon resident, with deep roots in the community, Morris-Piccolo has been grateful for the emotional strength that friends, neighbors and acquaintances provided 10 years ago. She is proud of the scoreboard that community donations built in her husband’s name at the hockey rink in town and she remains amazed by the comfort people continue to provide. 

“My husband is buried at the local cemetery,” she explained. “People still leave me notes there. It’s pretty amazing to go there and find notes. It’s very moving,” she said

With time, Morris-Piccolo and her children have moved forward.

Now 19, 17 and 15, the children are actively pursuing their dreams. They are also active in the foundation they formed to honor their dad. The Seth Morris 9/11 Heroes Foundation was developed by the Morris family to give back. It provides scholarship aid to high school graduates and financial assistance for newly widowed women. 

“It’s not your typical scholarship,” Morris-Piccolo explained. “We look at students differently.”

Noting that her oldest daughter has Dyslexia, the Seth Morris Scholarship is awarded based on hard work and not on grades alone. Her son also added an essay question component, asking applicants to describe an act of kindness they have done.

“The children are doing very well,” she said. “At their very young ages, they are good people. And that’s what I’m most proud of. Whatever they do after that is like icing on the cake.”

The family has also grown. Morris-Piccolo is married to Mark Piccolo, owner of .

Lynn and Seth both knew him. He was a family friend. After 9/11, Morris-Piccolo often ordered food from Piccolo’s. As time went by, Piccolo began including a little bottle of wine or a note in her order.

“It was nice. It was very, very nice,” she said.

Piccolo stepped in and helped fill a void in the lives of Morris-Piccolo and her children. Eventually the two married.

“Bringing Mark into our family has been wonderful. He’s been amazing,” Morris-Piccolo said. “And he loves them [the children] dearly, as they do him. So, it’s been wonderful.” 

The couple also has a 3-year-old daughter, Caroline Faith. She will turn 4 on Sept. 10.

“She’s a miracle baby,” Lynn said. “We’re very blessed. We’re very lucky. Very lucky.”

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the family's large extended family will gather to celebrate Morris’ life and Caroline’s birthday. 

“The anniversary, really, I think, is for everybody else,” said Morris-Piccolo, noting that all Americans feel the impact of 9/11. “Whereas, for us, it’s our life, every day. It’s not like we forget and turn it off and then turn it back on the 11th. It’s our everyday. “ 

So, on Sept. 10 the Morris-Piccolos will do what Seth would have enjoyed.

“We’re doing what my husband loved most,” Morris-Piccolo explained. “He loved eating out in New York. He loved great food, great eating, great wine. So, we are going to celebrate his life, and Caroline's birthday, at one of his favorite restaurants.”

The next day, the family will be at Ground Zero.

“I think it’s going to be beautiful,” she said of the memorial.

She noted that the families have been kept involved and she feels the museum will pay tribute to the lives that were lost.

“I think it’s going to honor the families and the victims,” she added. “I think it’s going to be positive. I think it will keep people remembering. The worst thing that can happen is that it [a terrorist attack] repeats itself. So, I think that if we can keep it in everyone’s’ mind, the chances of that happening are going to be a lot less.”

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