Susquehanna University honors alumni lost on 9/11
Sep. 11—SELINSGROVE — A group of Susquehanna University administrators, staff, faculty and students attended a brief memorial service held on campus Monday to remember alumni Colleen Supinski and Chris Vialonga and the 2,975 others killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It's a sad day," said former Susquehanna University head football coach Steve Briggs who recruited Vialonga and was among the attendees of the service held at the university's permanent memorial that overlooks the football field.
The Chris Vialonga Sports Performance Center was named in his honor in 2016.
"Chris always had a smile on his face. He lit up a room," Briggs said.
On that fateful day 22 years ago, Vialonga, a 1993 graduate, was working on the 92nd floor of the North Tower where he was employed as a foreign exchange trader and Supinski, a 1996 alum, was working as an associate trader on the 104th floor of the South Tower.
Briggs recalls being in the football office at Susquehanna the morning of the attacks and receiving a call from then-Athletic Director Don Harnum who notified him of the attacks and asked if he knew anyone working in New York City.
"I said, 'Yeah, a bunch," Briggs replied.
A few hours later he learned Vialonga was missing in the towers. His body was later recovered in the debris and Briggs and others from the university attended his funeral.
"He was a big part of our football team," he said of Vialonga.
Supinski was also involved in sports at SU, participating in women's track and cross country teams. The Colleen Supinski Auxiliary Performance Room at Susquehanna was dedicated in 2017.
At Monday's service, Rabbi Nina Mandel said the annual gathering is "one we wish we didn't have to do" but is important to remember Vialonga, Supinski and the others who were killed in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville.
It's also an opportunity to "remember the heroism of countless people who responded to the tragedy," said university Chaplain Scott Kershner, including Michael Kling, a 1980 graduate and volunteer firefighter who aided in the search at Ground Zero.
After Lowell Leitzel read Psalm 121, Tess Marsh, Susquehanna's employer relations coordinator, recalled being in England and seeing news of the attacks on television.
"We were watching when the second plane hit the tower," she said, describing her horror at the sight and "feeling kind of numb."
A world traveler, Marsh said the attacks forever altered the way she approaches traveling.
"I always make plans" in the event of the unimaginable.
