Atlanta couple recalls being in NYC during 9/11 attacks

ATLANTA - Stephanie Kirkpatrick and Stan Everett were on a trip to New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks. 

The couple from Atlanta was in the studio audience of a national morning show that morning. "

"We saw the aircraft hit the second tower on the news monitor in ABC studios," Everett said. 

The two say they knew it was going to get worse. 

“I’m in the architecture business he’s in the engineering business and we had a pretty good idea of what maybe was going to happen and sadly it did. The buildings came down. Seeing that huge cloud of dust coming up out of lower Manhattan was unreal," Kirkpatrick said. 

Kirkpatrick and Everett say the images they saw that day are difficult to even put into words. 

“The look on those survivors' faces was just unimaginable," Kirkpatrick said. 

The couple says the chaos of the morning slowly turned to silence, as the reality of the attack settled in.

They say it was a stillness like no other

.“I’ve never been in New York City at another time where it was literally just dead. Nothing going on. Occasional police car occasional ambulance. No cabs, no people walking the streets. It was really a surreal experience," Everett said. 

For the couple, like many others, the mission was to get back home to Atlanta. 

The couple managed to get a rental car the next day after spending hours in line. They then drove back home to their 9-month-old son and family. 

“A lot of hugging. I remember a lot of hugging. A lot of relief and a lot of counting our blessings," the couple said. 

While the couple witnessed an unthinkable tragedy that day, what they saw in the hours following the attacks was unexpected as well.''

“It really was a verification of the human spirit. How people will work together in a crisis to do the right thing and to help others. It really was heartwarming," Everett said.