Melissa Pullis, Hazlet, and her husband, Edward, who died in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks, share a happy moment above and (l) in this 1993 wedding photo.
The day Melissa Pullis lost her husband, Edward, in the attack on the World Trade Center, her world fell apart, but the people of her new hometown of Hazlet, she said, put the pieces of a shattered existence back together for her.
She’ll tell you, nearly eight months later, that if there’s anything to be gained from losing the love of your life to senseless terror on your birthday, it’s that calling a certain place home helps to heal the heart.
Now she struggles for the right words to express her thanks. She has lost, but she has also gained and now Melissa wants to express her gratitude. She bears no pretense and wants no attention, only to somehow say thanks.
Her brown eyes are sad and glassy, but determined. Her husband’s wedding band glistens on a chain around her neck.
"Sgt. David Brett of the Hazlet Police [Department] retrieved [it] from New York two weeks ago, along with the contents of [Edward’s] wallet. He didn’t have to do that. People have been incredible," she said. "They found him on Sept. 13, but he didn’t come home until recently. We had his funeral April 2, and he is buried in the Holmdel Cemetery mausoleum. It’s a relief to have him home. I guess I’m lucky. There were so many who weren’t even found. I just wish I could have known sooner," she said.
Both Brooklyn, N.Y., natives, Edward and Melissa called Hazlet home.
Even though she said now she’ll sell her house because it’s a constant reminder of Edward, Melissa will stay in Hazlet because she said she is loyal to the town that showered her with support, love and strength. She said she has had time to ingest the bad and the good, and though she still fights back tears when she talks about losing her husband, she wants to reflect on the good that came out of her horror.
Sept. 11 started out as a beautiful day for Melissa. The 33-year-old mother of three awoke on her birthday to an early morning "happy birthday" wish and kiss goodbye from her 34-year-old husband. "I told him, like I always did, ‘I love you. Be careful.’ It was just something I always said out of habit," said Melissa.
Shortly after she bid Edward goodbye, Melissa got up and decided to lounge before launching into housework.
"It was my birthday. I wanted to just relax a little bit, have my coffee and watch television," she said.
Minutes after turning on the TV, a special report came on, and she saw the first World Trade Center tower hit by the suicide plane, she said.
Edward, who worked for Aon Insurance Co., was in tower two, the south tower. "What I thought I saw when I saw tower one hit was his tower. I got nervous for a second," said Melissa. "Then I heard that what I saw was tower one, just in time to see tower two get hit. I dropped to my knees on the living room floor and screamed, ‘God, no! It can’t be!’ I was in a state of shock. I just kept screaming and crying. It was like something out of a horror movie. I don’t even remember all of it. My sister-in-law, who lives in Middletown, came over," Melissa said.
From then on, Melissa’s life changed. The man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with, the father to her three children, was gone after less than 10 years of marriage.
The Pullises married on June 13, 1993, in St. Mary’s Church, Brooklyn. They moved to Staten Island and then to Hazlet a few short years ago. They were new to New Jersey suburban life, but Melissa felt her husband had the nature it took to connect with a smaller town.
"He was truly a good man. He really cared about people around him, especially his family. A lot of people complain about their husbands. I had no complaints at all. We complemented one another really well. I was the lion and he was the lamb. No task or chore was beneath him. He was really always there for me and everyone he knew," Melissa said.
After the tragedy, Melissa said, she found Edward’s goodness coming back to her from total strangers in a show of support like nothing she’d ever experienced before. "I got letters from strangers; toys for my kids left out on my doorstep; offers for help from the schools. It just hasn’t stopped. It’s incredible. I just have to say thank you," she said.
The couple’s three children are twin 7-year-old boys, Eddie and Anthony, and 3-year-old Mariafrances, whose greatest concern is being able to draw, watch children’s videos and drink juice from her "sippy" cup.
All of the kids have blue eyes, "like their father. They’re kind eyes. They have his nature, too. They’ll be here to carry on his tradition of goodness," Melissa said.
She stressed that the goodness of heart that Edward had also lives on in the town they called home. "I have to say thank-you to my neighbors; the Middle Road, Beers Street and Sycamore Drive schoolteachers and principals; the Hazlet police and fire departments; Middletown’s FAVOR; and the Hazlet Dunkin’ Donuts for their amazingly generous donation of $11,000," Melissa said, adding that insurance money would keep the family afloat. FAVOR was formed by Middletown residents to help families of victims of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center disaster.
But money was not the issue for Melissa. It was the generosity of heart of a township full of people who were now like family to her.
Two weeks after the Trade Center attacks, Melissa went to ground zero, she said, just to be there for Edward. "I stood there. I just had to be there, close to him. He knew I always had to be near him. I couldn’t let him lay there alone. I stood there and said ‘I’m here, Eddie,’ " she said.
Now she lives with the comfort of knowing people are good and they are there for her.
"I’m so happy that I live here. Eddie took care of us. Now these wonderful, amazing people are doing the same. It’s come full circle – his kindness – it’s amazing," Melissa said, as she unconsciously clasped her husband’s wedding ring in her hand.