'Safety evaporated' on Sept. 11, 2001

Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - As the Celtic Spirit Pipe Band played "Amazing Grace," Lea Macadlo was spotted wiping tears from her eyes.

Macadlo was thinking of her twin brother, Leonard Castrianno, who was one of the more than 2,700 people in the World Trade Center's twin towers who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Castriannno, 30, was working in the North Tower at the Cantor Fitzgerald financial services firm when the building was struck by a hijacked jet airliner, American Airlines Flight 11. In less than two hours, the tower pancaked and collapsed.

It took the Castrianno family more than two weeks before Leonard's death was confirmed.

'The realism came through," Macadlo said. "That's when all hope was gone and reality set in."

More than 100 people gathered by the Amherst Memorial Hill Grove on Friday to take part in a solemn ceremony that marked 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The ceremony brought a wide cross section of people from 9/11 family members like Lea Macadlo to business leaders, politicians, first responders and just everyday people - all whom trekked nearly one mile to the memorial site along the Amherst Bike Path.

Besides the pipe band, there was "Taps" played by Williamsville East High School alumni Alexander Francisco, songs from the Williams East High School Chorale and a tolling of the bell by William Orr from the Getzville Fire Department.

"9/11 means something to everyone," said A.J. Baynes, Amherst Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.

The attacks for the baby boomer generation was their Pearl Harbor.

But to Brendan Rooney, it is more personal.

Rooney's brother Sean, 30, was working for the AON Corp, in the trade center's South Tower when the attacks took place. Sean Rooney never made it out of the tower.

"All of a sudden, that universal feeling of safety evaporated and literally went up in flames that day," Brendan Rooney said.

Rooney was at work when he first learned about the attacks on TV. He tried to reach his brother to no avail.

Rooney met up with his mother and they held up a sliver of hope.

Sean Rooney's death was confirmed within a few days.

"But the grieving process took a long time," Rooney said. "It hasn't gone away."