Mason teacher recalls 9/11's toll on student's family

Steve Mays remembers the fear, the sadness and the confusion that swept through Mason Middle School on Sept. 11, 2001.

Twenty-five years later, the Mason teacher is still in the classroom. He still thinks about what that day did to one student's family.

Ashley Faulkner was a student at Mason Middle School when the attacks happened. Her mother, Wendy Faulkner, was on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower for a business meeting. Ashley did not yet know her mother was there.

"Your heart just sinks because she didn't know; we didn't know," Mays told FOX19 in an interview published Sept. 11. "Come to find out, her mom, Wendy, passed away that day."

Wendy Faulkner was a vice president in information systems for Aon Risk Services. She had been commuting from the family's Mason home to Chicago since December 2000, flying back for long weekends, according to Wendy Faulkner's obituary. On Sept. 11, 2001, she was in New York.

Classes were dismissed in Mason that day.

Mays went home to his infant son, who was about to turn one. He spent the rest of the day on the couch holding the boy and watching events unfold on television, he told FOX19.

Ashley's father, Lynn Faulkner, was at the family's Mason home watching TV coverage when Wendy's mother called to tell him his wife was in the South Tower, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. He told Ashley when she got home from school. The family waited days, then weeks, for news. Wendy's remains were never found.

A small piece of steel from the World Trade Center now rests on a table in the foyer of Lynn Faulkner's Mason home, next to a photo of Wendy. Behind both is a plaque reading "May We Always Remember," which Faulkner received in 2016 at the dedication of Mason's 9/11 memorial.

The family later started the Wendy Faulkner Memorial Children's Foundation after discovering a box Wendy had begun filling with donations for needy families overseas before she left for New York, the Enquirer reported.

Mays, now a father of three, said the emotions of that day still run high. He told FOX19 he wants his students to understand how the community handled the tragedy and moved forward, calling it something the next generation needs to hear.

Mason marked the 25th anniversary on Friday, Sept. 11, with a community-wide moment of silence at the city's 9/11 memorial inside the Mason Municipal Center. Mason police and fire departments led the ceremony, timed to correspond with the moments each plane struck. Faith establishments across Mason also opened their doors, the City of Mason announced.

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