WTC Attack Envelope Sparks Friendship
By Holly Ramer
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, December 25, 2001; 6:58 AM
ROCHESTER, N.H. An envelope found on the streets of Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has started a long-distance friendship between two strangers.
The envelope contained a check Donna Snyder mailed to her vacation club on Sept. 10. A month later, she was about to stop payment when an envelope arrived containing the remnants of the check and this note:
"To whom it may concern. This was found floating around the street in downtown New York. I am sorry if you suffered any loss in this tragedy. Sincerely, a friend in New York!"
Larry Toto Jr., a 28-year-old electrician, had lost his best friend, Neil Dollard, in the attack on the World Trade Center. That loss was on his mind as he scribbled the short message.
"I was just full of emotion with it all, and I actually was hoping ... the sender didn't lose anybody and suffer," Toto said when he and Snyder, 61, appeared together last week on NBC's "Today" show in New York.
Postal officials have told Snyder her check could have been on either of the two planes that crashed into the trade center; both took off from Boston carrying thousands of pounds of mail.
"It didn't dawn on me until I read the letter that it had gone through so much," she said.
Though Toto didn't sign his note, he included a return address. Snyder wrote back, introducing herself, and Toto soon replied.
"I hope this does not end our correspondence. I could use a pen pal," he wrote.
Snyder, a customer-service representative at a grocery store, said Friday she was stunned that someone would take the time to return such a seemingly insignificant item.
"It had to have been a caring person to do this," she said.
She said that when she called the vacation club to explain why her payment was late, "there was just dead silence."
"That seems to be everyone's reaction," she said.
Only one other piece of mail that had been aboard jetliners is known to have been found and mailed on.
It was an invitation to a wedding rehearsal dinner sent by Jane Gaillard of York, Maine, to her niece in Los Angeles. A man in London forwarded it with a note saying he found it in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11.
Collectors say both letters are valuable, and Snyder said she has been approached by several auctioneers and the Smithsonian Institution, which asked her to donate the envelope. She said she hasn't made any decisions about it.
"It's the farthest thing from my mind right now. Every time I think about it, I keep thinking about the tragedy," she said.
But she has no doubts about her new friendship with Toto. She spent a day with his family and promised to help arrange for them to visit New Hampshire this summer.
"We definitely will keep in touch," she said.
© 2001 The Associated Press
By Holly Ramer
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, December 25, 2001; 6:58 AM
ROCHESTER, N.H. An envelope found on the streets of Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has started a long-distance friendship between two strangers.
The envelope contained a check Donna Snyder mailed to her vacation club on Sept. 10. A month later, she was about to stop payment when an envelope arrived containing the remnants of the check and this note:
"To whom it may concern. This was found floating around the street in downtown New York. I am sorry if you suffered any loss in this tragedy. Sincerely, a friend in New York!"
Larry Toto Jr., a 28-year-old electrician, had lost his best friend, Neil Dollard, in the attack on the World Trade Center. That loss was on his mind as he scribbled the short message.
"I was just full of emotion with it all, and I actually was hoping ... the sender didn't lose anybody and suffer," Toto said when he and Snyder, 61, appeared together last week on NBC's "Today" show in New York.
Postal officials have told Snyder her check could have been on either of the two planes that crashed into the trade center; both took off from Boston carrying thousands of pounds of mail.
"It didn't dawn on me until I read the letter that it had gone through so much," she said.
Though Toto didn't sign his note, he included a return address. Snyder wrote back, introducing herself, and Toto soon replied.
"I hope this does not end our correspondence. I could use a pen pal," he wrote.
Snyder, a customer-service representative at a grocery store, said Friday she was stunned that someone would take the time to return such a seemingly insignificant item.
"It had to have been a caring person to do this," she said.
She said that when she called the vacation club to explain why her payment was late, "there was just dead silence."
"That seems to be everyone's reaction," she said.
Only one other piece of mail that had been aboard jetliners is known to have been found and mailed on.
It was an invitation to a wedding rehearsal dinner sent by Jane Gaillard of York, Maine, to her niece in Los Angeles. A man in London forwarded it with a note saying he found it in lower Manhattan on Sept. 11.
Collectors say both letters are valuable, and Snyder said she has been approached by several auctioneers and the Smithsonian Institution, which asked her to donate the envelope. She said she hasn't made any decisions about it.
"It's the farthest thing from my mind right now. Every time I think about it, I keep thinking about the tragedy," she said.
But she has no doubts about her new friendship with Toto. She spent a day with his family and promised to help arrange for them to visit New Hampshire this summer.
"We definitely will keep in touch," she said.
© 2001 The Associated Press
