Olivette Resident Leads Fellow Workers to Safety on 9/11

The morning of Sept 11, 2001 began like any other morning for Jeff Springer.  Up at 5 a.m., he took the 5:50 train to NYC and made his way to his office on the 69th Floor of the World Trade Center South Tower.

But this morning was different than other mornings.  It was very dark, the sun having not risen yet. But the sky was crystal clear.  The stars were everywhere.  And as he looked up through the sunroof of his car he saw a shooting star.  “When you see a shooting star you’re supposed to make a wish, so I did.  I wished that the transfer I had just requested some three weeks ago would be good for my family,” he recalls.

  Little did Jeff know that in the hours ahead he would wonder over and over again, if that transfer request would come to fruition.

Life has changed for the Springer family.

Ten years to the date, Jeff was then a senior manager for Morgan Stanley in New York City. He was conducting his usual Tuesday morning managers’ meeting on the 69th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower.

The meeting was disrupted by a muffled booming sound. “Something had happened and we had no idea,” recalled Jeff. “Then, we saw paper flying past the window, like it was snowing. At first we thought someone was throwing propaganda material from the roof of the building.” The first plane to crash into the North Tower was on the opposite side from where the meeting was being held.

 In 1992, the World Trade Center had been attacked by terrorist bombers so evacuation drills in the buildings were conducted often.

Sensing a bigger problem, Jeff gathered his nearly 70 co-workers and instructed them to start moving towards the staircases and head downstairs.

The World Trade Center had four outer staircases and one main staircase for quick exit. Jeff made a final sweep of the floor and even checked the bathrooms to make sure everyone was out.  He then headed across the hallway to the Executive offices and that was when he saw the North Tower. 

Flames and smoke were coming out of open windows.  As he looked he saw the horrifying sight of someone jumping to their death.  “At that point I knew something was very wrong and it was time for me to get out.”  Feeling confident that everyone had left the floor, Jeff and another co-worker headed down an outer staircase.

In the meantime, the news was spreading fast. Ruth was working out at a gym in Princeton, NJ, a bedroom community of NYC located approximately an hour south of the World Trade Center.

“I saw the plane crashing into the North Tower.  All I knew was Jeff was in there along with a lot of other people. I was very frightened. As I headed to the parking lot to drive home, I received a phone call from my son telling me about the second plane so I went back inside to find out more on the television.  I knew right then, I may never see Jeff again,” said Ruth.

Back at Tower II, Jeff and a co-worker were heading down the staircase.  On the way down, we came upon a woman who was having difficulty negotiating all the stairs, so we offered her our assistance. 

“As we were descending, an announcement came across the PA system, saying all was well and we could return to our offices.  We decided to just keep on going down.”  The three had reached the 40th Floor when the second plane hit the South Tower.

  “The building swayed from side to side and the floor moved up and down while white sheetrock dust came through the heavy fire doors,” recalls Jeff. We knew it was time to move quickly and we took this woman arm in arm and literally carried her down each level and finally to safety.”

Jeff and his co-worker emerged from the exits about 10-15 minutes before the building came crashing down, trapping thousands of workers and rescue personnel already inside. “I remember seeing the first responders going up the stair cases as we went down. They are the real heroes.”

Luckily, Jeff headed east and was several blocks away when the South Tower fell. “The ground shook and rumbled and I thought something had been blown up in the subway underneath me.” Fortunately, Jeff ended up downwind from all the choking smoke. 

Knowing he needed to call Ruth and tell her he was okay, he tried his cell phone, but the lines were jammed with others doing the same thing. Thinking quickly, he called his brother on an 800 line. Able to make the connection Jeff gave him one instruction, “Keep trying Ruth until you reach her and tell her I’m safe.” Jeff’s brother finally was able to reach Ruth about 45 minutes after Jeff’s building lay in ruins in lower Manhattan.

With the train system shut down and no easy way to get back to Princeton, NJ, Jeff walked some 90 blocks to the home of good friends, Tom and Martha.  He was relieved to have finally found some safety, something cold to drink and something to eat. He’d been walking for hours.

“Literally, you could walk up the center of Fifth Avenue. Stores were closed down. There was no traffic other than an occasional emergency vehicle heading downtown.” Jeff spent the night with his friends in the eerily quiet city.

Finally, a day later, he made his way back to his train stop in Princeton. “I remember getting into the car and telling myself I’d better buckle up my seat belt. I had survived this horrible attack, and it would be awful to be killed in a car accident on the way home.”

Go to this wonderful School Tube video created by Ladue High School student Samantha Weil.

Ten years since 911, Jeff has become a manager for an investment firm in Philadelphia and commutes to St. Louis. Ruth was first elected to the Olivette City Council and served as mayor of the city in 2010. Their children, Zachery and Amanda reside in New York City.