Sept. 11 attacks hit close to home for Mullins family

Jack Mullins vividly remembers taking a break from work one day in the early 1970s to have lunch with his father Thomas.

His father was a carpenter, working at one of the two skyscrapers in New York City that were going to be taller than the Empire State Building.
Mullins, a native of the Big Apple, moved to Maricopa in 2005 to help his youngest son Brian operate the business Brian owns, Anytime Fitness.

While having lunch with his dad nearly 40 years ago, the shop foreman asked Mullins, a computer programmer, if he would like to “go up.”
Mullins was wearing a suit and tie and not dressed for going up in a skyscraper still under construction, but he didn’t want to pass on the opportunity. Escorted by his father and the shop foreman, Mullins arrived at the 73rd floor of the 110 story building, the highest level at that point in the construction of the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan.

For Mullins, it was a spectacular view of the New York City skyline and hard to believe there were almost 40 more floors yet to build. From then on, Mullins would visit the site with his two sons, John and Brian, and together they would have lunch with Thomas as often as possible.

Construction on the towers was completed in 1973, seven years after breaking ground. Mullins said his father was proud to have worked on it and invited everyone in the family to the wrap-up party.

“They had a party for the construction workers and their families,” he said. “We came from a big Irish Catholic family, so there were a lot of people for my father to invite.”

Mullins attended with his 6-year-old son, John, along with other family members. “It was really John’s introduction to the World Trade Center,” Mullins said. “He had been there with me before but not when it looked like it did when it was finished. And when it was done, everyone knew it was a monumental achievement.”

Mullins’ father retired soon after the project completion and died in 1980 from exposure to asbestos. Until he moved away from New York in 1999, Mullins worked in an office across the street from the World Trade Center. John would grow up to become an officer for the New York Police Department.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Mullins was living in Florida, and was driving to meet visiting relatives at Disney World when he first heard the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center on the radio.

“When I heard about the first plane, I figured it was a freaky accident of some kind,” Mullins recalled. “It’s when the second plane hit that I knew it was some kind of terrorist act.”

Mullins arrived with his wife, Bee Ann, at the hotel where his relatives were staying. They turned on the television to see the horrors the rest of the world was already watching. His mind was immediately flooded with memories of his father and concerns about the people he knew who worked in the buildings. Then his thoughts turned to his son John.

His other son, Brian, was living in California at the time.

He called John in New York but was unable to reach him. Mullins later learned his son was off that day but had been called to his precinct as soon as the first plane hit. Waiting for news on their son became increasingly difficult.