SHERILLS FORD, N.C. — Doug Schroeder and his mom, Ruth Lapin, both worked in the finance industry. While he was living and working in Charlotte on Sept. 11, 2001, his mom was at her new job on the 77th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower.
“It was so new, it didn’t dawn on me that she was in the Trade Center, didn’t think about that until about 4 hours into it,” Schroeder told Channel 9’s Erika Jackson.
He says that’s when he got a call from his mom’s husband worried because no one had heard from Lapin since the attacks.
Schroeder drove to New York hours after learning his mom was missing.
“We were up there for about 3 days, and obviously we had not heard anything,” he said. “It was several years until we actually found any remains.”
Now, 25 years after her death, Schroeder is focusing not on how she died, but on the 53 years she lived before the attacks.
“She would dress up as a clown with the Girl Scouts and go to senior centers, trying to brighten up some days,” he said. “She was the kind of person that when she made a friend, she kept them.”
Just two years after Lapin’s life ended, a new chapter began.
“When we knew we were pregnant and knew we were going to have a daughter, we wanted to make my mom a part of the experience,” he said.
They named their little girl Anna Ruth in honor of the grandmother she never got to meet.
Today, Schroeder continues to share memories about the woman his children will always know as Grammy Ruth.
“Life has evolved since then,” he said. “I’ve become a father, I’ve been a husband, and I’ve tried to lead the kind of life I think she’d be proud of.”
Schroeder says his sister visits the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan every year, but he has never been. He says he’d like to visit someday when he feels ready.