News Release

Tuesday ceremony to dedicate Carolina memorial to 9/11 victims

CHAPEL HILL – For first-year students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in September 2001, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashing of United Airlines Flight 93 came just a few weeks into their college experience. The events of that day profoundly changed their world and shaped their time on campus.

It was fitting, then, that members of the Class of 2005 chose to establish a garden on campus that honors the 9/11 victims who were Carolina alumni.

Members of the class and university community will dedicate this memorial in a ceremony on Tuesday (Sept. 11) at 11:30 a.m. in the garden, located on Stadium Drive across from Carmichael Residence Hall. The ceremony is open to the public.

Designed by David Swanson of Swanson & Associates PA in Chapel Hill, the garden features twin stone walls facing one another, as well as a bench, trees and plantings. The garden's cornerstone will bear a plaque with the names of those alumni who died that day. They are:

• Karleton Douglas Beye Fyfe. Fyfe had been a financial analyst with John Hancock Co. for nine months when he left his home in Brookline, Mass., to board American Airlines Flight 11, which the hijackers crashed into One World Trade Center, generally known as the North Tower. He left behind his wife, Haven, and their 19-month-old son, Jackson. Fyfe grew up in Durham and graduated from Carolina in 1992.

• Mary Lou Hague. Hague was a financial analyst for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. She worked on the 89th floor of the second tower in the World Trade Center. She came to Carolina from Parkersburg, W.Va., graduating in 1996. 

• Andrew Marshall King. King was a partner and currency trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, in the North Tower. He transferred to Carolina after visiting a childhood friend here and graduated in 1983. King lived in Princeton, N.J., with his wife, Judy, and their three children: Ce Ce, Drew and Carly.

• Ryan Ashley Kohart. Kohart graduated from Carolina in 1998 and was in the same Cantor Fitzgerald office as Andrew King the morning of the attack. Kohart loved lacrosse, was a four-year letterman at Carolina and co-captained the team his senior year. He grew up on Long Island, the third of four boys. He loved to read, travel and collect fine wines.

• Dora Menchaca. Menchaca graduated from Carolina in 1978. She was a research scientist and an associate director for Amgen, a biotech firm. She was flying home to Santa Monica, Calif., on American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that hit the Pentagon. She left behind a husband, Earl, a daughter, Imani, and a son, Jaryd.

• Christopher Quackenbush. Quackenbush was a founding principal in the investment-banking firm of Sandler O’Neill & Partners, with offices high in Two World Trade Center, the South Tower. Quackenbush was a 1979 graduate and served on Carolina’s Board of Visitors. His parents, three of his four siblings and his niece graduated from Carolina. His grandfather was a professor at Carolina and, in 1996, Quackenbush established, in his grandfather’s name, the Albert Ray Newsome Distinguished Professorship for the Study of the South. He also endowed a scholarship for women’s lacrosse and contributed to the renovations of Memorial Hall, Finley Golf Course, Kenan Stadium, Navy field and the softball field. Quackenbush lived in Manhasset, N.Y. He left behind his wife, Traci, and their three children: Whitney, “C.J.” and Kelsey.

Tuesday’s ceremony will feature the Army, Naval and Air Force ROTC Color Guard; welcoming remarks by UNC Chancellor James Moeser; acknowledgements by T.J. Abrams, Class of 2005 treasurer; and a reading of the names by Jovian Irvin, Class of 2005 president. Refreshments will follow the ceremony.

Limited parking will be available in the Rams Head Deck on Ridge Road. For directions, visit: http://carolinafirst.unc.edu/seniors/documents/911_Directions_Parking.pdf.

The Class of 2005 had 396 members who donated to the memorial garden fund their senior year, raising $9,120.55 for the garden and plaque. Additional funding was raised from alumni, parents, faculty, staff and friends. Approximately $45,000 was raised, which covered the entire cost of the memorial.

Development Communications contact: Scott Ragland, (919) 962-0027, scott_ragland@unc.edu
News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu