September 11th 2006 marks 5 years since the most devastating attack on U.S. soil in history. Thanks to Michelle Malkin, I was directed to a site that gives bloggers the opportunity to pay tribute to the victims of that terrible day. The site is called the 2,996 project. The wonderful people there have spent a great deal of time and effort to match bloggers with the names of victims, all of them deserving of tribute and remembrance.
The person assigned to me is Maile Rachel Hale. She was 26 and lived in Cambridge Mass., but was originally from Hawaii. She was Vice President of Operations, Boston Investor Services. I did not know Maile but, from all accounts she was loved by all that knew her. The best way I can think of to pay her a befitting tribute is to present the words of friends and loved ones.
This is her obituary as printed in the
Honolulu Advertiser & Star-Bulletin,
Maile Rachel Hale, among the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is remembered as an intelligent woman with a sense of humor and quiet grace. "I don't think there's a gentler, kinder soul than Maile," Diane Ueki, a librarian at Hale's alma mater, Kaiser High School. Hale was attending a seminar at Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center when the terrorist attacks occurred. Hale, who was 26, also was remembered as a bright student -- she graduated in 1993 as valedictorian and went on to attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., where she majored in chemistry. "Her talent for science and business was phenomenal," said Vickie Kirihara, who taught Hale's advanced placement chemistry class at Kaiser. College roommate Kimberly Gilbert described Hale as a talented woman who had various interests. "She was probably one of the few chemistry majors at Wesleyan who spent time both manipulating plastic molecular models as well as improvising dance performances on stage -- or in the kitchen," Gilbert said. "If you stopped by her room, you might find her listening to Hawaiian music, reading a book for literature class or carefully figuring mathematical equations with precise strokes of her pencil." Soon after graduation, Hale moved to Boston where she worked as an administrative assistant for Boston Investor Services. Within two years, Hale became vice president and chief operating officer of Boston Investor Services, overseeing $5 billion to $10 billion in assets, friends and family members said. She planned to attend graduate school after a successful start in her career. Though Hale's work was demanding, her "wonderful sense of humor pervaded everything she did," said Boston Investor Services President Ted Wendell. "Even in the most frustrating moments, the chuckles and giggles would emerge," Wendell said. Throughout her life, she influenced others to appreciate life and always practiced the spirit of aloha. "She made me want to be a better person, just by standing next to her," said her sister, Marilyce. Hale is survived by her parents, Rob and CarolAnn Hale of Honolulu; sisters Marilyce Hale and Martha Hale Farrell; brother-in-law Shawn Farrell; grandfather Nathan S. Hale and aunts, uncles and cousins in Hawaii and on the mainland. Donations may be sent to the Labaree Scholarship Endowment Fund, c/o Williams-Mystic Program, P.O. Box 600 Mystic, CT 063500-0990 or the Rotary Club of Honolulu Foundation, c/o Royal Hawaiian Hotel, 2259 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu 96815. [SB 17/10/2001]
As you can see, Maile was a very accomplished woman and loved by many. I'm sure she would have been someone that I would have enjoyed knowing.
Here is another remembrance from Mailes family that was posted at
the.honoluluadvertiser.comNo time to be bitter
Maile Hale
Maile Hale's family is riding out the week in a rented house on the East Coast, where they're gathering to remember her.
Hale was the 26-year-old chief operating officer and vice president of Boston Investor Services. She was ambitious since her days as valedictorian of the Kaiser High School class of 1993. On Sept. 11, she was attending a conference at Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center's north tower.
Her family doesn't want her to be lost in the numbers of the thousands who died that day.
"We keep her alive," said her mother, CarolAnn Hale of Hawai'i Kai. "We talk about her all the time."
The young woman with the passion for dancing and the ocean is present in small details of life the Dove chocolate bars that remind friends of her sweet tooth, the silver bracelets her former teachers at Kaiser wear engraved with her name, the kukui nut tree and boulder from Hanauma Bay placed at Kaiser to honor her, and the memorial built in Mystic Seaport, Conn., where she was part of a maritime studies program.
Her loss has changed the way her family looks at life but not their desire to keep living.
"What happened was an aberration," her mother said. "The world is populated by caring people. You cannot be bitter if you're going to survive it."
One happy moment came when CarolAnn Hale opened her mail to find a letter from a couple in South Carolina the Hales had never met who had decided to name their new baby Rachel Maile Hale's middle name.
And on Feb. 14, what would have been Maile Hale's 27th birthday, firemen in Hawai'i Kai raised a flag from the World Trade Center in her honor.
There are more loving messages and memories of Maile Rachel Hale
here.
Please read them and remember her and her family in your prayers.
