Aurora resident who was in World Trade Center 1 to speak at Sept. 11 ceremony

She was working in her office on the 38th floor of World Trade Center 1 on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when her life - and the world - would change forever.

Aurora resident Shaila Zerin-Anwar remembers the details of that fateful morning vividly, even 18 years later.

From holding her desk with both hands thinking the building was going to fall after the plane struck, to being in a crowded, dark stairwell when she heard the plane hit the second tower, to running through the streets of Manhattan covered in dust after watching both towers in flames and subsequently collapsing.

Zerin-Anwar, who moved to Aurora with her husband in 2006, will be the guest speaker at the City of Aurora's annual Sept. 11 Memorial Ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Aurora Central Fire Station, 75 N. Broadway.

"Sept. 11 will always be a time of mixed emotions for me," said Zerin-Anwar, a software engineer and mother of three.

"It was a day filled with shock and loss, but also with sacrifice, kindness and unity. The city and country came together in a way that will stay with me forever."

Commemorating the 18th anniversary of the tragedies in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, the ceremony will feature a Presentation of Colors and Wreath Laying Ceremony by the combined Aurora Fire and Police Honor Guards, with additional remarks from Police Chief Kristen Ziman, Fire Deputy Chief John Gilbert and Mayor Richard C. Irvin.

"After experiencing another tragedy earlier this year in our own city, the ceremony reminds us that we must never forget those who perished, those who sacrificed, those who were impacted and the times in life that both challenge and unite us. We must always remember," Irvin said.

The ceremony is open to the public.