Advertisement

Sept. 11 Places And Memories: The Federal Street Bus Stop

03:37
Download Audio
Resume
Jeffrey Gonski used to meet his fiancee, Amy Toyen, at the Federal Street bus stop downtown every day. (Dan Mauzy/WBUR)
Jeffrey Gonski used to meet his fiancee, Amy Toyen, at the Federal Street bus stop downtown every day. (Dan Mauzy/WBUR)

Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Nearly 3000 people died that day. Two-hundred-and-six of them had strong ties to Massachusetts. They left behind not only their loved ones, but an invisible imprint on places around the state.

Amy Toyen died on Sept. 11, 2001, on the top floor of the World Trade Center.

Jeffrey Gonski and Amy Toyen were engaged to be married.

Gonski:

So, September 2001, I was 26-years-old. Amy was 24. We had just gotten engaged in Ireland and were starting to look into buying a house and planning weddings.

Amy Toyen (Courtesy Jeffrey Gonski)
Amy Toyen (Courtesy Jeffrey Gonski)

Part of Amy’s job was working and giving demonstrations and coordinating the marketing program for her financial products, through Thompson Financial. On that day, there was a tradeshow at Windows On The World of the top floor of the World Trade Center.

I was working for Brown Brothers Harriman and we were both living in the Newton Corner area, so typically after a long work day, generally we would coordinate times so that we could meet at the Federal Street bus stop to take the same bus home together every night—sit next to each other.

The Federal Street bus station is right in the heart of the Financial District, right outside the pregnant building, so I was able to shoot out right after work and just hang out for a little while. She would be coming from South Boston, so I was always keeping an eye out, watching the buses, watching the street to see when she was going to come.

It was always the best part of my day. No matter how bad my day might have been, it was always nice to see Amy because she would always greet you with a smile.

More:


10 Years Later: Remembering 9/11

This segment aired on September 6, 2011.

Advertisement

More from Radio Boston

Listen Live
Close