John DiFato - A Hero to his family

In Memory – John DiFato

Killed September 11, 2001

World Trade Center Tower 1

What an honor it has been being assigned Mr. John DiFato to write a tribute to. I somehow feel like Mr. DiFato was the best possible person I could have been assigned. I have felt strangely drawn to the stories about him that I have read on the Internet. How I wish I could speak to his dear widow Susan, she may go by Sue, and tell her how touched I have been by the things I have read about her dear husband. I’m not sure what I would say to her if I actually did talk to her – but I would want to just tell her how sorry I was for her and her family’s loss and how a basic housewife and mom of 1 in far away Texas grieved with her as she remembered her precious husband especially on this day, five years later.

Let me tell you a little about John that I have read about him on other websites.

John DiFato was born in Brooklyn, a devoted son to Teresa and Antonio DiFato. He moved to Travis in 1977 (I guess this was when he was about 14), then in Huguenot, and then moved to Prince’s Bay in 1992. He graduated high school in 1981 from Tottenville High School in New York. (I also am a 1981 high school graduate. John and I would have been just about the same age right now – busy with life being parents to our kids, partners to our spouses, and enjoying the things life had to offer.)

Mr. DiFato received his associate’s degree in finance from the College of Staten Island in 1984. (My degree is in accounting.)

He met his future wife in 1983, while Susan was working at Macy’s at the Staten Island Mall. She was working there when John and a friend walked in. She had known him vaguely while in college. Susan says of that day “He said something cute…I instantly fell in love with the cleft in his chin”. She goes on to say "we started hanging out and dating, and the rest, as they say, is history," said Mrs. DiFato in an October 18, 2001 article of the Staten Island Advance. He worked as a security guard at Macy’s from 1984 to 1992. John and Susan were married on September 9, 1989. They celebrated their 12th anniversary on September 9, 2001 at the Rain Forest Café in Edison, New Jersey. Mrs. DiFato says that “while we celebrated…I thought how fortunate we were to have a close and loving relationship. I have so many wonderful memories of being loved by a truly wonderful man."

Tomorrow, I will write more about Mr. DiFato’s family and the things he enjoyed doing.

I’m sure wishing I had known him.