There is a 37-year-old home recording of the voice of Katherine Wolf, as a 3-year-old girl in Wales, telling her "mummy and daddy" that she would "like to sing 'All Things Bright and Beautiful.' "
It was a promising start to a lifelong avocation. Mrs. Wolf became a classically trained pianist, and an accompanist for the Philbeach Society, an amateur operetta group in London. Her musicianship led her to America in 1988, when the ensemble staged a joint production with the Village Light Opera Group in Manhattan. Charles Wolf, a member of the opera group, recalled the night he met her that year and said to a colleague: "Who is that woman? I have got to get to know her." They were together ever since.
Mrs. Wolf worked for years at Schroders, a British asset management company in Midtown. And just three weeks before Sept. 11, she began a new job at Marsh & McLennan, on the 97th floor of 1 World Trade Center.
"You couldn't let her reserved exterior fool you — she'd stand up to anyone for something or someone who she believed in," said her friend Jean Orr.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 21, 2001.
In honor of a little girl's drean, perhaps echoed or even realized as the beautiful woman she became, it is only appropriate to remember Katherine Susan Wolf in the fine words of the song written by Cecil Frances Alexander(1848):
Refrain:
All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
each little bird that sings,
he made their glowing colors,
he made their tiny wings. (Refrain)
The purple-headed mountain,
the river running by,
the sunset, and the morning
that brightens up the sky. (Refrain)
The cold wind in the winter,
the pleasant summer sun,
the ripe fruits in the garden,
he made them every one. (Refrain)
He gave us eyes to see them,
and lips that we might tell
how great is God Almighty,
who has made all things well. (Refrain)
Yet no words ever written can ever adequately honor the memory of a loved one. A commenter, a friend of Mrs. Wolf, posted a very touching memoir which is far more personal than the synopsis given in any newspaper.
She was only 40 when she went to work that brilliant September morning. And she never came home. AA Flight 11 slammed right into her office on the 97th floor of One World Trade; we'll never know for sure, but I'm told her desk was on the opposite side of the building from the impact point and it's possible that she never even knew what hit her. I pray that that is the truth, because thinking that she might have been standing there at a window, watching the planing heading right for her, i just too painful.
For the first year or so after 9/11, not a day went by that I didn't think of Kath...
I offer my sincerest condolences to the those who were and remain beloved friends of Katherine S. Wolf. I only wish that I had had the opportunity to meet the woman who gifted the world with her very presence. My prayers remain with her, her family, and her friends.
Réquiem ætérnam dona ei Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat ei. Requiéscat (Requiéscant) in pace. Amen.
Eternal Rest Grant Unto Her O Lord, And Let Perpetual Light Shine Upon Her and May She Rest in Peace Amen
2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.
We will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.
2 comments:
I stood next to Kath in a blue and white bridesmaid's dress as she married Charlie in New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine on a gala day now long gone. She was a good friend and an even better person.
Thanks for honoring her memory.
Thank you for commenting. I offer my condolences for the loss of your friend. Can you share any more of her life and what she was like?
Post a Comment