9/11 Two Decades Later: A Personal Story from One Washington Dairy Farm Family
Caring for calves, milking cows, chopping corn – pretty much every farmer, as well as non-farmer, remembers exactly what they were doing and where they were at on that September day. Dan Baginski is of no exception.
However, Dan, the son of Dan and Maureen Baginski, who own and operate Dan Maur Farms in Othello, Wash., recalls more of where he wasn’t at on 9/11 than where he was.
Dan had made his way back to his Washington childhood farm, some 3,000 miles away from his new home and new job, located in New York City.
On that September day, the Baginski’s were at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, prepping for show day. “We were milking in the fair parlor when we first heard about the news report and I walked out to find mom and crew on the wash rack when the first tower fell,” Dan recalls.
He had taken vacation time from his New York City job to join the family to show some of their beloved Brown Swiss cattle. This was the first time since Dan finished grad school that he was able to join his family out west to help show cows.
While smoke and uncertainty plagued the Big Apple, the Baginski’s were focused on showing cows. That was until the news spread of an airplane flying into the World Trade Center. The family paused, as did the country. The words coming out of the radio were surreal, especially considering Dan’s office was in the second tower at the World Trade Center. The one that was hit first. Then minutes later, the other tower was struck.
The next day it began sinking in for the Baginski’s. If Dan hadn’t flown back to Washington for the State Fair, then he would have been at work in the World Trade Center. Some of Dan’s coworkers made it out alive, but unfortunately, many did not, including his manager and 25 others.
However, his sister Jennifer was not in Washington with her family at the fair. Instead, she was living in New York City at the time and recalls seeing everything from the view of her apartment. “I remember being in the middle of it, literally, hearing and seeing everything unfold from my Soho apartment,” she states.
Dan speaks about what unfolded twenty years ago with a lump in this throat and gratitude in his heart. “First responders put themselves in danger every single day to protect their neighbors and fellow citizens,” he says. “I remember we hung the American flag at the fair that morning in 2001; it has always been an important part of our fair decorations.”
Dan has been to funerals, and he has had to bury friends from college and says he never really cried. “I don’t know what it is about 9/11,” he says. “That day touched so many Americans, even those that had no ties to New York City and the towers. It especially touched me and my family.”
Driving home from the fair, the Baginski family says that patriotic signs and flags were everywhere on I-90. Dan remembers he cried the entire way home.
Now, two decades years later, Dan still carries his World Trade Center Tower Two key on his keychain as a reminder of how fortunate he was to be far away from New York City on that September day.