This week, we’re focusing on how 9/11 changed the lives of Coloradans. Telluride filmmakers George and Beth Gage were interested in how the families of firefighters who died that day were faring.
The couple’s new documentary, “From The Ground Up,” starts with a tour of Ground Zero in New York. A guide runs through the statistics-- how many people died that day and exactly how the towers fell. It turns out, though, that this isn't just any tour guide. Kate Richardson, who volunteers to run the tours, lost her husband, a firefighter, on 9/11 and she tells the Ground Zero visitors about how she's coped.
“I want to share with you a story that my grandmother told me. She had a young brother in World War II and he had a young wife and he used to write her letters. He wrote home to her and said if something happens to me in this war don’t let the war ruin two lives. So -- they took 2,749 lives that morning but they didn’t take mine and I think it’s a testament to all of the victims to make the most of the this life and to really celebrate it and it helps to carry on these memories just in living our lives to the fullest.”
The documentary, airing tonight on Rocky Mountain PBS. follows five 9/11 widows, many of whom are rebuilding their lives through charity and volunteer efforts.
Ryan Warner speaks to filmmaker Beth Gage of Telluride.
Photofrom Gage & Gage Productions of 9/11 widow Sarah Siller, who sponsors a charity walk in Manhattan in honor of her husband.
