John Keohane, 41,worked at One Liberty Plaza near the World Trade Center and died when the towers collapsed. After the planes hit the Trade Center towers, Keohane met Mike Lyons, his partner of 17 years, on the street, and called his mother from his cell phone.
"They were just in the streets like everybody else," Keohane’s sister, Darlene Keohane, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "As he was talking, he had thought a third plane crashed into the building."
What Keohane thought was a third crash was really the collapse of the South tower of the World Trade Center. While Lyons survived, Keohane was killed by falling debris. His family confirmed his name on a coroner’s report three days later, the Chronicle reported.
A native of San Francisco, Keohane had lived in the New York area for a year. His family asked that memorial contributions be made to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Cancer Society, or the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay lobby group
Petaluma Mother Recalls Son's Final Words
Jack Keohane called his mother while witnessing terrorist attack on World Trade Center
September 20, 2001
By TOBIAS YOUNG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
PETALUMA -- Jack Keohane called his mother in Petaluma to tell her he was safe on a New York street as he watched the burning twin towers of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
Mary Keohane said her son was in shock and his voice trembled after witnessing people jumping to their deaths to escape the flames minutes after a second hijacked jet collided with one of the towers.
"Mom, I'm safe," he assured her. "Can you believe this is going on?"
The 41-year-old corporate attorney was using his cellphone three blocks away from the burning towers. He had just been evacuated from One Liberty Plaza, an office building nearby, where he was a rising star for the Zurich U.S. insurance company.
Keohane told his mother he was with his partner of 17 years, Mike Lyons, who works nearby and commutes daily with Keohane from their home in New Jersey.
Then there was a roar of noise that caught Keohane's attention.
"Oh, my God, Mom. It's a third plane," Keohane said.
But it wasn't a third plane. It was the gut-wrenching sound of the first tower collapsing from the damage and fire.
The line went dead. That was the last time Mary Keohane heard from her son.
As the building crumbled, Lyons and Keohane bolted, running from the fast-moving cloud of debris and dust that billowed through the streets.
Lyons lost sight of Keohane and was knocked to the ground, barely able to breath as the suffocating cloud moved over him. When it was over, he couldn't find Keohane.
In Petaluma, Mary Keohane feared for her son's life. An hour later, when Lyons called to tell her he made it out alive but hadn't been able to find her son, she figured both of them must have survived.
They kept the phone line clear, waiting for him to call, but no call came.
Last Thursday, Lyons went to a makeshift mortuary and demanded the list of the dead. He discovered that Keohane was the third body taken to the morgue Tuesday after he was listed dead on arrival at St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village.
The trouble authorities are having dealing with the magnitude of the disaster is evident. The family said they were called Tuesday night, a week after the tragedy, by a relief worker who said authorities still had not found the body. But Jack Keohane's body had been returned to the Bay Area earlier that day.
"I don't know if we would know today" if Lyons hadn't tracked down Keohane's body. "We'd be in New York still looking for him," said Keohane's sister, Darlene Keohane, 38, of Pacifica.
Close friends and family, including his parents, had gathered at Keohane's sister's house in Pacifica when the heartbreaking news came. Lyons had called a nearby cousin and asked her to give them the news in person.
"He should have been alive. But at least we have some answers," Darlene Keohane said.
His death certificate said he died of "blunt head trauma by homicide," Darlene Keohane said. He was apparently struck by a piece of flying debris, although the family will never know exactly what killed him, she said.
Services are being held this morning in South San Francisco.
Jack Keohane, born John Richard Keohane in San Francisco, spent much of his youth in Novato, where he attended local schools and graduated in 1978 from San Marin High School.
He went on to Sacramento State University and McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.
He traveled most of the world and loved politics, his sister said.
He was close to his family, visiting his mother in Petaluma and his father in Palm Desert several times a year.
Each year he took his mother on a one-week vacation; this year they had tickets to go to Florida for a week starting last Saturday.
He called his mother twice Tuesday, once at about 6 a.m. Petaluma time to tell her to turn on the news and again about an hour later, moments before the first tower collapsed.
The family is cautious in offering any comment on what action the United States should take in response to the suicide attacks that are believed to have killed more than 5,500 people.
"We have to do something, but I don't want any other families going through what we are going through," said Darlene Keohane. "It's not fair to kill other innocent families as our families have been killed."
In addition to his partner, mother and sister, Jack Keohane is survived by his father, Donald Keohane of Palm Desert, and a grandmother in San Bruno.
A Mass will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Veronica Church, 434 Alida Way, South San Francisco. Friends are invited to attend.
You can reach Staff Writer Tobias Young at 762-9498 or e-mail tyoung@pressdemocrat.com
The morning of
Sept. 11 John Keohane was in his office at Zurich Global Energy in New York
City. When terrorists attacked the nearby World Trade Center, he called his
mother in Petaluma to tell her to turn on the television.
John, an attorney
for Zurich, immediately helped evacuate people from the building.
When he
finally got out of the building, he said good-bye to a co-worker and told him to
be safe. He walked a few blocks away and telephoned his mother again to tell her
he was okay, despite the shock of having seen people jumping from the World
Trade Center towers.
At that moment, the first tower collapsed and the phone
connection was lost.
John was killed by falling debris from the collapsing
towers. His body was recovered and identified, and flown back to San Francisco
to his family for burial.
John — “Jack” as he was known to his family and
friends — spent much of his youth in Novato. After his family moved here from
San Bruno, he went to Sinaloa Middle School. Then it was on to San Marin High
School, where he graduated in 1978 and was the speaker at the ceremony.
“That
was absolutely the beginning of his public speaking career in some ways,”
Darlene Keohane, John’s younger sister, said. “I know he was very much into
politics and speaking.”
After graduating from San Marin High School, John
attended Sacramento State University and the McGeorge School of Law in
Sacramento, where he earned his law degree.
“He changed his name back to
John after he became a lawyer,” Darlene said. “But we still called him
Jack.”
Three weeks ago, John’s family went back to New York City, as many
families of victims have done, to go the places where John may have spent his
last moments alive. They visited Ground Zero and the surrounding
blocks.
“Things are still a mess — they’ve cleaned up a lot — but things are
still a mess,” Darlene said. “The distance that the pieces of debris killed
people — it’s unbelievable. It’s not real.”
After the family returned to the
Bay Area, Darlene’s father, a retired San Francisco sheriff officer, spoke with
Darlene about the area they had visited in New York.
“He said there had to
be people who saw him — at the newspaper stand that was nearby and the church.”
Darlene said. “He said, ‘Why don’t we write them a letter?’”
And Darlene did.
A friend of hers from work had planned a business trip to New York and said she
would deliver the letters personally and speak with people at both places. But
it was during the Thanksgiving holidays, so her colleague slipped the letter
under the door of the closed newspaper stand and through the church’s mail slot.
When Darlene returned to her home last Monday evening, a letter from Our
Lady of Victory Church in New York City was in her mailbox. Darlene learned that
a priest associated with the church, Father Andrew, a missionary priest from
Africa, had found her brother’s body. Part of the letter read:
One of our
priests happened to be outside and came upon the body of your brother. It
appeared that your brother was hit by a large piece of concrete and that he died
instantly. Father anointed him as the ambulance started to take him away. Every
effort was made to save your brother and he was treated with respect and
dignity. Even though they knew he was gone, they gently put him into the
ambulance.
Darlene says she is grateful for the letter and the fact that
her family has some answers about her brother.
“They have a memory book at
the church and now his name is in it,” she said.
A memorial tree was
recently planted at Miwok Park in memory of his life and childhood years in
Novato. Darlene and her parents also attended the California remembrance service
held by Governor Davis.
She remembers her brother as a very loving, caring
and gentle person, with a quiet strength, she says. Darlene and her parents have
received hundreds of cards and letters from people, from both people they know
and people they don’t.
“I’ve learned so much more about my brother from
everyone he worked with. I know he was a very, very thoughtful man,” she said.
Darlene says her brother was “just this ordinary kind of hero, calling his
mother to let us know he was okay.” While there are still many questions in her
mind, and a yearning to return to the place where her brother died, she takes
comfort in having at least a few of those questions answered.
“We’re just
thankful for all the people who tried to help him,” she said. “And it sounds as
though there were quite a few.”