Montreal woman recalls husband’s final 9/11 call, 25 years later

Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Montreal’s Kimmy Chedel is remembering the final phone calls from her husband, Frank Doyle, who died in the World Trade Center. Their children, Zoe and Garrett, were two and one at the time.

Chedel met Doyle in New York, and the pair later married and raised their children in Englewood, N.J. On Sept. 11, 2001, she heard on 1010 News that a commercial aircraft had struck the World Trade Center and immediately called Doyle. He told her he had been thrown to the floor. Both had survived the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

After United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower at 9:03 a.m., where Doyle worked, he called again. Chedel said he spoke carefully, explaining that the rooftop doors were locked and people were trapped on the 87th floor, where it was becoming difficult to breathe. She recalled hearing coughing, a girl crying and glass breaking.

Doyle asked her to promise to tell Zoe and Garrett every day for the rest of their lives how much their father loved them. He then asked her to end the call and call 911 to report people trapped on the 87th floor. His final call came at 9:22 a.m.; the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.

Doyle was 39. His remains were identified through dental records several weeks later. Over the following three and a half years, Chedel received seven calls informing her that further remains had been recovered.

Chedel said she focused on raising her children and keeping Doyle’s memory present in their lives. In 2017, she founded Team Frank Africa in Montreal in his honour. The organization has supported 19 schools across South Africa and she says more support is planned.