How 9/11 brought these 2 women together — over a piece of dried fish in Newfoundland

Jeanette Gutierrez survived 9/11, while Kelly Sceviour helped stranded airline passengers in Gander, N.L. When the two women met years later, they formed a close bond. (Submitted by Kelly Sceviour)Social SharingJeanette Gutierrez grew up with one sister, but now has two.

Her sister, Gail, saved her life when Gutierrez was working across from the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11 attacks, 25 years ago.

But the New Yorker says she met her friend-turned-sister in Gander, N.L., a decade ago. She was attending a 9/11 commemoration in the small Canadian town, where dozens of flights were diverted in the hours after the attacks. With thousands stranded, Newfoundlanders stepped up to offer shelter.

Gutierrez wanted to meet the people behind that kindness, she told The Current.

“I decided to come here on a tour of gratitude to basically thank the people of Newfoundland for doing such a wonderful thing,” she said.

But once in Gander, she found herself staring down the stinky eye of a tiny fish, as she was being screeched-in.

“I don't eat seafood anyway. Not cooked and certainly not a stinky, little skinny fish. But I had to do it — I wanted so badly to be an honorary Newfoundlander,” she said.

Gutierrez and Sceviour on the night they met, when the New Yorker was being screeched-in in Gander, N.L. (Submitted by Kelly Sceviour)Her salvation came in the form of a local woman, Kelly Sceviour, who spied her discomfort.

“She's a New Yorker so you could tell by her face what was happening … the look on her face was like, I am not [eating this!],” said Sceviour, the town’s special events co-ordinator.

Sceviour motioned to Gutierrez, indicating she should take a small bite and hand over the rest, which she promptly disposed of. 

When the ceremony was over, Gutierrez approached Sceviour at the bar. 

“[She] said, ‘I owe you a beer,’” Sceviour recalled. “And I was like, ‘Well, I don't drink beer, but I'll take a vodka!’” 

That friendship has blossomed into both women feeling as close as sisters, which Gutierrez says has helped her navigate the memories of 9/11. While she feels a kinship and comfort with other survivors, she says she finds it hard to be in New York on the anniversary, often travelling to Gander instead.

“I still get to honour and mourn and cry … everything that I do in New York. But I do it — for me — in a better place. In a place that I can also smile and laugh and be with this sister.”

On the morning of the attacks, Gutierrez was working at Three World Financial Center, when she heard the first plane hit the North Tower at 8:46 a.m.

She called her sister Gail, who also worked downtown. Like many people, Gail initially thought there had been an accident. But when the second plane hit, Gail called back, urging Gutierrez to leave — she hesitated. 

“Eventually she convinced me to leave by saying she would come to me and we would leave together,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez says if Gail hadn’t persuaded her to leave when she did, she might have been caught in the towers’ collapse. 

“My big sister Gail saved my life that day.”

In Gander, Sceviour was working for the municipal government when she heard something had happened. She was sent home, but told she might be needed later.

Sceviour went to her mother’s house, which was right on the flight path for Gander International Airport.

“I watched as plane after plane descended. And I thought, 'Oh dear, what are we going to do with all these people?'” 

Sceviour was called back into work at midnight, where she spent the night taking phone calls from people looking for loved ones on redirected flights. Working off a passenger list, she was able to reassure them that their family members were OK.

“To hear that relief in their voice … it felt really good to be able to help,” she said. 

Gutierrez and Sceviour have spent a lot of time travelling together. Left to right: the friends at Come From Away in New York City; visiting Bonavista, N.L.; and waiting for the sunrise in Greenspond, N.L. (Submitted by Kelly Sceviour)An unbreakable bondDozens of planes were redirected to airports in Newfoundland and Labrador that day. Gander took in nearly 7,000 stranded passengers, hosting them for several days as the community stepped up with food, accommodation and whatever assistance they could provide. 

“We're born and raised in Newfoundland to be those kind and helpful and compassionate people,” she said.

Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has grown tense in recent years, as U.S. President Donald Trump launched a trade war and repeatedly threatened to use economic force to make Canada the 51st state.

But Gutierrez said politics can’t break her bond with Sceviour, and nothing can ever erase what the people of Newfoundland and Labrador did 25 years ago.

“Nobody sitting anywhere in any office can change who Canadians are,” Gutierrez said. 

“It might change some relationships. It will never change ours.”