Andrea Haberman was 25 years old when she was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She would have turned 50 this year — gone now for as many years as she lived.
Her father, Gordon Haberman, visits the 9/11 Wisconsin Memorial in Kewaskum several times a week.
"I'm up here 4 times a week. And I come at night sometimes; the lighting is spectacular, and it's quiet," Haberman said.
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Andrea was at a business meeting on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. It was her first trip to New York City.
"I can't imagine the horror she went through. The bravery she had to exhibit," Haberman said.
Her father remembers the person she was and the future she had ahead of her.
"She was intelligent, articulate, excited about her career," Haberman said.
Andrea and her fiancé had purchased a house in Chicago just two months before the attacks, in July 2001.
"I know she wanted to have children," Haberman said. "The future looked wonderful and bright."
Now 76, Haberman pours his energy into the Kewaskum memorial, where visitors regularly stop to remember and reflect.
"I'm heartened by that. And that's good, and they're here to remember and reflect," Haberman said.
Plans are underway to raise $4 million for a permanent museum at the site. Local School Superintendent Mark Bazata is leading the effort.
"It's gonna be an indoor space that's gonna be able to tell a little bit more of the story, show a little bit more of some of the different perspectives of what happened that day," Bazata said.
Haberman said the new museum will serve as both a tribute and a teaching tool.
"It starts with a memorial like this and educating young people. And again, that's our primary goal here. The new museum will guide people through the events that day. And what transpired afterwards," Haberman said.
He said it is not just Andrea's story, but America's stories that need to be remembered. An estimated 100 million Americans alive today were born after 9/11.
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