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Terror Attacks Claim Another CWA Victim
Fifty days after the tragic terrorist attacks, Deborah Merrick of Local 1032 died from complications due to injuries she received at the World Trade Center.
“Deborah received burns over 95 percent of her body, and fought valiantly to get well,” said CWA President Morton Bahr. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Deborah’s family.”
Merrick, 45, worked as a senior office assistant at the New York-New Jersey Port Authority’s technical center on Erie Street in Jersey City, just on the other side of the Holland Tunnel. She had been with the agency for 20 years.
The morning of Sept. 11, Merrick’s supervisor sent her to the World Trade Center to do some banking in the lobby of the tower that was the first to be struck by a hijacked airliner. Merrick and others were engulfed in flames when a fireball burst down an elevator shaft and exploded into the lobby, reported Local 1032 Staff Representative Bernice Krawczyk.
Merrick was placed in intensive care at New York Presbyterian’s Cornell Burn Unit. She died at the hospital on Oct. 30. Krawczyk and more than 60 Local 1032 members and co-workers attended her funeral Nov. 5 at West End Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.
Deborah and her sister Mandy Merrick, both born in New York City, lived together most of their lives. Mandy said Debbie loved to go bowling or to go out dancing. “She gave her heart out to everybody, she was so sincere. She took care of everybody,” Mandy said.
Contributions from the CWA Disaster Relief Fund and from the local enabled Mandy to take leave from her job at the Metropolitan Transit Authority to spend long days at Debbie’s bedside.
Deborah is also survived by a sister Maldine Wallace of St. Louis, Mo., and a brother, Hubert Merrick, who lives in North Carolina.
“Deborah received burns over 95 percent of her body, and fought valiantly to get well,” said CWA President Morton Bahr. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Deborah’s family.”
Merrick, 45, worked as a senior office assistant at the New York-New Jersey Port Authority’s technical center on Erie Street in Jersey City, just on the other side of the Holland Tunnel. She had been with the agency for 20 years.
The morning of Sept. 11, Merrick’s supervisor sent her to the World Trade Center to do some banking in the lobby of the tower that was the first to be struck by a hijacked airliner. Merrick and others were engulfed in flames when a fireball burst down an elevator shaft and exploded into the lobby, reported Local 1032 Staff Representative Bernice Krawczyk.
Merrick was placed in intensive care at New York Presbyterian’s Cornell Burn Unit. She died at the hospital on Oct. 30. Krawczyk and more than 60 Local 1032 members and co-workers attended her funeral Nov. 5 at West End Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.
Deborah and her sister Mandy Merrick, both born in New York City, lived together most of their lives. Mandy said Debbie loved to go bowling or to go out dancing. “She gave her heart out to everybody, she was so sincere. She took care of everybody,” Mandy said.
Contributions from the CWA Disaster Relief Fund and from the local enabled Mandy to take leave from her job at the Metropolitan Transit Authority to spend long days at Debbie’s bedside.
Deborah is also survived by a sister Maldine Wallace of St. Louis, Mo., and a brother, Hubert Merrick, who lives in North Carolina.