Wheaton mom still feels pain of son’s death

Susan Schurmeier still doesn’t like to look at the images of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. They remind her too much of her son, Mark, who died that day.

But when Monday’s Daily Herald brought news that the plot’s mastermind, Osama bin Laden, had been killed at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the Wheaton resident said it brought a mix of emotions.

“I was surprised,” she said. “It was good news. It was a relief.”

Schurmeier said she and her husband, Jerry, had been out when the news broke late Sunday evening.

She said hearing of bin Laden’s death does not make the pain of losing her only son any easier.

“It does not bring him back,” she said. “But it’s a relief to know he (bin Laden) has been caught and that our country did a good job of finding him and getting him.”

Mark Schurmeier, a 44-year-old financier at the time, was attending a convention on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower when the attacks began.

Susan Schurmeier said her grandson, who was 5 when his father died, has faced some challenges as a result.

But Susan said she tries to help where she can and that time, while not necessarily healing the wound, has helped her handle it better.

“It does not really get any easier but it’s not quite the shock that it was. But it’s still a big loss for the family. He was an important family member and he’s missed by everybody: his sister, nephews, brother-in-law, his son, his wife and us.”