Donora honors Senko on 9/11 anniversary
The borough native was killed on Sept. 11, 2001, when a plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Twenty-five years ago, students walked into Ringgold High School on a beautiful September morning thinking about football games, math tests and what they might have for lunch.
By second period, televisions were on in classrooms and the world they knew had changed.
On another sunny September morning Friday, hundreds gathered at Palmer Park — among them students who weren’t yet born when the World Trade Center towers fell — to remember what happened that day and a Donora man who never came home.
Larry Senko
Larry John Senko was 34 when he was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while working in the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
On Friday, his hometown marked the 25th anniversary of the attacks and the 15th anniversary of the dedication of the walking trail that bears his name.
But the morning was about more than looking back.
With generations gathered together in the park, speakers talked about the responsibility of carrying memories forward as events once experienced firsthand become history for those
Donora Mayor Don Pavelko leads attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance during the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 dedication ceremony Friday at Palmer Park in Donora. Jeff Helsel / MVI
who came later.
Mayor Don Pavelko especially welcomed the students in attendance. The event also included Donora council members and other dignitaries and residents.
“I know that you weren’t alive when 9/11 happened, so today I hope that you learned what it meant to everybody and still does today,” Pavelko said.
The Rev. Lee A. Haney of St. Paul Baptist Church asked the crowd to pause to remember those who died, along with the first responders and others who helped in the aftermath.
Dr. David Lonich speaks during the rededication of the Larry Senko Donora Heritage Walking Trail Friday at Palmer Park in Donora. The trail honors Donora native Larry Senko, who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks while working in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Jeff Helsel / MVI
“Help us to honor the memory of the fallen by living lives of faith, hope and love,” Haney prayed. “Let us not forget the lessons of unity and resilience that emerged from tragedy, and may we carry those lessons forward in our daily lives.”
Dr. David Lonich turned his attention to the young people sitting before him.
Events like the one in Palmer Park, he said, are reminders that Americans continue to find value in gathering as communities to remember a common past.
This year in particular, Lonich said, there has been an emphasis on making sure students understand what happened 25 years ago.
Guest speaker Mark Pawelec discusses new features of the Larry Senko Donora Heritage Walking Trail, including interactive QR codes that allow visitors to access information about the trail and Donora’s history, during Friday’s dedication ceremony at Palmer Park in Donora. Jeff Helsel / MVI
“It’s obviously easier to find meaning in something that you’ve lived through, and that’s the important lesson of history,” Lonich said.
History, he told them, is about more than memorizing facts or retelling stories.
“We study history for the personal impact,” he said. “Somehow, by looking at what happened before us, we should be transformed. Our values should be clarified.”
Certain events become benchmarks in people’s lives, Lonich said.
People remember where they were when Pearl Harbor was attacked, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated or when the space shuttle Challenger
Donora Borough Council President Casey J. Perrotta acknowledges guests in attendance during Friday’s rededication of the Larry Senko Donora Heritage Walking Trail at Palmer Park in Donora. Jeff Helsel / MVI
exploded.
For another generation, Sept. 11 became one of those moments.
Lonich asked the students to imagine themselves at Ringgold High School 25 years earlier.
That morning, he said, students walked into school much as they would on any other day.
“They were thinking about all the things you’re thinking — football games, the test you might have in math class, what you’re going to have for lunch,” Lonich said.
Nothing seemed different during first period.
Ringgold High School quarterback Dennis Hawkins, left, poses with Anita Towler Burton, niece of “Deacon” Dan Towler, beside the dedication plaque for “Deacon” Dan Towler Pavilion Friday at Palmer Park in Donora. Towler starred for Donora High School in the 1940s and later became an All-Pro halfback with the Los Angeles Rams. Jeff Helsel / Mon Valley Independent
Around 9 a.m., things began to change.
There was more activity in the hallways. Teachers moved in and out of classrooms and whispered to one another.
Then the televisions came on. “The horror of that day unfolded in real time right in front of them, burned into their memory,” Lonich said.
Some initially thought they were watching a movie. Others were angry or afraid.
Teachers tried to reassure them, Lonich said, but there were few answers to give.
In the minutes, hours, days and weeks that followed, those students also witnessed examples of courage and compassion.
Guests gather at the Robert D. “Bob” Megela RC Airfield during Friday’s dedication ceremony at Palmer Park in Donora. Jeff Helsel / MVI
They saw first responders run toward danger and people from across the country offer whatever help they could. People donated blood. They donated money.
Honoring a native son
For Donora, what happened that morning was also personal.
Senko was one of their own. Raised in the borough by his parents, Margaret and Ed Senko, along with his older brother, Eddie, Senko attended Monongahela Valley Catholic High School and later St. Francis
Jacob Lee, 12, a student at California Charter School, operates a drone during a flyover of the Robert D. “Bob” Megela RC Airfield Friday at Palmer Park in Donora. Looking on are his parents, Chris and Stephanie Lee of Bentleyville Borough. Jeff Helsel / MVI
College, where he played football and earned a business degree.
He eventually moved to the Philadelphia area and built a career in recruiting.
By 2001, Senko was an area vice president with Alliance Consulting. He and his wife, Debbi, lived in Yardley with their young son, Tyler.
His office was on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.
Senko was there when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the building on the morning of Sept. 11.
He spoke with Debbi after the attack, remaining calm
Donora Borough Council Vice President DeAnne Vayansky Pavelko delivers closing remarks during Friday’s dedication ceremony at Palmer Park in Donora. Jeff Helsel / MVI
and expressing his love for his family.
He never came home. But the story Donora preserved Friday was about more than how Senko died.
He loved sports and music, played guitar and keyboards and was a fan of the Grateful Dead.
After Tyler was born in February 2000, the music coming from Senko’s guitar on Sunday mornings began to change. Children’s songs joined the repertoire he once filled with the Grateful Dead.
Shortly before Sept. 11, Larry and Debbi had built a home in Yardley.
Carroll Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brett Massafra directs the display of an American flag suspended between ladder trucks from the Carroll Township and Donora fire departments during Friday’s dedication ceremony at Palmer Park in Donora. The Monongahela Fire Department also participated in the event. Jeff Helsel / MVI
The life he had built away from Donora had grown, but his hometown never forgot him.
The Larry Senko Walking Trail was dedicated at Palmer Park on the 10th anniversary of the attacks in 2011.
Fifteen years later, the memorial is becoming an educational tool for another generation.
New interactive QR codes along the Larry Senko Donora Heritage Walking Trail allow visitors to use their phones to learn about the people, places and industries that shaped the borough.
The project was supported by an American 250 Spirit Award through the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency. Emma Hull and Nick Vayansky were recognized for producing the virtual educational
Greg Pandrock, right, speaks during the dedication of the “Deacon” Dan Towler Pavilion Friday at Palmer Park in Donora as Towler’s niece, Anita Towler Burton, looks on. Jeff Helsel / MVI
experience along the trail.
Pavelko said the project creates a lasting connection between Donora’s past and its future.
“The Larry Senko Donora Heritage Walking Trail stands today as a testament to the community’s dedication in honoring local history while fostering connections through shared outdoor spaces,” Pavelko said.
He said the project created “a lasting legacy that reflects the resilience and spirit of Donora.”
Donora honors 3 hometown icons
Senko’s was not the only name added to Palmer Park’s
Students from Madonna Catholic Regional School in Monongahela observe a moment of silence during the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 dedication ceremony Friday at Palmer Park in Donora. Jeff Helsel / MVI
landscape Friday.
The ceremony also included dedications honoring “Deacon” Dan Towler, the Honorable Reggie B. Walton, Robert D. “Bob” Megela and the late Dr. Charles E. Stacey.
A pavilion was named in honor of Towler, a Donora football standout who went on to play at Washington & Jefferson College and professionally for the Los Angeles Rams before entering the ministry.
Another pavilion was dedicated to Walton, a 1967 graduate of Donora High School who went on to West Virginia State University and American University’s Washington College of Law.
Walton, who grew up in Donora, has spent decades in the legal profession and has served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia since 2001. He assumed senior status in 2015.
The borough also dedicated the Robert D. “Bob” Megela RC Airfield.
Another pavilion was posthumously dedicated to Stacey, a lifelong Donora resident whose connection to the borough stretched from its classrooms to its history.
Dr. Charles Stacey
Born in 1931, Stacey was a senior at Donora High School during the deadly 1948 smog.
After graduating from Donora High School in 1949 and attending the University of Pittsburgh, he returned to his hometown as a teacher. He eventually became a principal and later superintendent of the Ringgold School District.
After retiring from Ringgold, Stacey spent seven years as chairman of the education department at Carlow College. He also remained active with the Donora Public Library and Donora Historical Society.
Stacey died April 25, 2022, at age 90.
