Email Article

Printable Page

Sept. 11 Grief Endures for Family of N.C. Central Alum

By Rony Camille
Black College Wire

File photo by Rashaun Rucker/Campus Echo Vernelle Massey-Webb, a former registar at North Carolina Central, pays her respects at a 2001 memorial to Harry Glenn. The two were classmates on the Durham, N.C., campus.

When Jaylan Glenn celebrated his seventh birthday five years ago, his parents, Sharon and Harry Glenn, took him to the Bridgewater Sports Arena in Bridgewater, N.J.

They had a laser tag celebration two days before his actual birthday on Sept 10.

It turned out to be the last birthday Jaylan would celebrate with both his parents. Harry Glenn was among the 2,749 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Glenn, 38, a 1983 graduate of North Carolina Central University, was on the 97th floor of Tower One, ready to start his workday at Marsh & McLennan, a global professional services firm, where he was assistant vice president of global technology.

American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 bound for Los Angeles from Boston, slammed into the north side of the tower at 8:46 a.m., between the 94th and 98th floors, reducing the building to rubble.

Along with the rest of a nation watching the horrific pictures of the collapsing buildings on television, Sharon Cobb-Glenn struggled to come to terms with what she was witnessing.

She knew immediately her husband was in the tower.

"Harry took being on time very seriously," she recalled. "He never knew what hit him."

At their home in Piscataway, N.J., Cobb-Glenn dropped to her knees and prayed.

Phones began to ring and neighbors came to her door.

Five days after the attacks, she undertook the difficult task of telling her son that his father would never come home again.

"It was a heinous crime, and it continues to be a crime," she said. "It robs you. It really does, and it's painful. It doesn't matter how positive you try to look at this tragedy," she said.

Sharon and Harry met as undergraduates at Central in the School of Business, and began dating after graduation in 1983.

Sharon graduated with a marketing degree and Harry with one in computer science.

"He was my best friend and soul mate," said Cobb-Glenn.

She said her husband was passionate about his family, old-school rap, sports and reading.

As a dedicated community activist, he frequently visited his old neighborhood in East Harlem to mentor elementary school kids.

"He was a peaceful person," said Cobb-Glenn.

It is a struggle for Cobb-Glenn to get up every day knowing that Harry is not at her side.

"I can break down in tears at any given point -— the sky is as blue today as it was on that morning of Sept. 11, 2001. It takes you back, it puts you in a place you don't even want to be," she said.

"It chokes you up . . . it breaks your spirit."

For Cobb-Glenn, focusing and remembering the good times she and her family cherished with Harry keep her going.

She spent a lot of time volunteering and serving on committees formed after the attacks.

"To be in the company and support of the people who have a shared bond — the loss of our spouses — helps."

Five years later, she still struggles with her loss.

"It's one day, one hour, one moment, and a lot of prayer to God for courage, strength to get me through the day, and to continue to bless my son . . . and everyone else that has suffered," she said.

Roosevelt and Birdie Glenn, Harry's parents, agree.

"We try very hard not to think about it, especially since we live in Harlem," said Roosevelt Glenn.

Birdie Glenn explained that any mention of 9/11 reopens the wound.

"Around that time, because it's on TV and everywhere else, I just cut it off," she said.

North Carolina Central held a memorial service immediately after the attacks and planted a rose of Sharon tree in Harry Glenn's honor outside the Hoey Administration Building.

"Even in death, he still finds a way to take care of us. He's our guardian angel," said Cobb-Glenn.

Today, Jaylan is actively involved in sports.

"He plays travel basketball and soccer. I keep him focused, just like his father would," she said.

Rony Camille is a student at North Carolina Central University and editor-in-chief of the Campus Echo.

Posted Sept. 10, 2006