A Saint in the City

The Poet Laureate of Freehold cautioned many, many years ago it's so hard to be a saint in the city.  Hard?  Yes.  Impossible.  No.  

At least not according to Tom McGowan.  

Tom McGowan met and fell in love with his future wife, Stacy (Sennas) McGowan, when they were both students at Boston College.  She was not merely beautiful, smart, and a dynamo on and off the athletic field (Varsity Lacrosse and Class President (all four years) at Nyack High School and Varsity Lacrosse at Boston College), she was simply a genuinely good human being.   Tom described her as, "warm and giving and happy and funny, proud, strong, and graceful."  If one shall possess seven distinct attributes, those seven are pretty damn good ones to possess.  

Stacy McGowan spent two years in London working for a French bank after she and Tom got married.  Her career continued on an upward trajectory when the couple returned to the United States, where she ultimately joined Sandler O'Neill, first as a Vice-President and, thereafter, as Managing Director in charge of the equities trading desk.  She was in her office on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, among those souls trapped when United Airlines Flight 175 impacted the building between its 77th and 85th floors.  

At the time of her death, Stacy McGowan was just 38 years old.  She and Tom were the proud parents of two little girls, Ryan and Casey, who were just five and four years old respectively at the time of their mom's death.   Tom McGowan, speaking of his wife, said, "I never met a saint, but this girl certainly was a saint." 

Stacy Sennas McGowan

Photo Credit:  Voices Center for Resilence

-AK