Politics · Sun Belt Post
By Edie Kasten September 11, 2026 / 10:25 PM CDT / CBS Chicago Add CBS News on Google Twenty-five years ago, the nation stood still in shock as the 9/11 terrorist attacks killed thousands and changed the way we see life. One Chicago woman said nothing has been the same for her since that day. She lost a dear cousin, and the pain is still raw.
When Alexandra Brzezinski talks about her cousin, Christine Olender, she smiles and she cries. "Christine was really the firecracker. Born on Fourth of July," Brzezinski said.
"But we lost her on 9/11." Olender was the assistant general manager of Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center's north tower. "They loved her. They all loved her, and she liked it, too," Brzezinski said.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Olender went into work extra early. "She was going to have 75 to 80 people attending a conference, so she wanted to make sure everything was perfect for the guests," Brzezinski said. Just before 9 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 hit the World Trade Center's north tower.
Olender and her guests were on the 106th floor, and smoke was everywhere. "I still remember vividly that our neighbor called us and said, 'Put the TV on,'" Brzezinski said. "We didn't understand why.
Once we put it on, we understood. My mom immediately called my aunt and said, 'Have you talked to Christine?' And she said she'd talked to her earlier that morning. It was awful.
The not knowing what was happening, but seeing what was happening, was painful." Olender made desperate calls to the New York Port Authority, which owned and operated the World Trade Center, hoping for guidance. Years later, the Port Authority released transcripts of 911 calls, including Olender's. "We're getting no direction up here.
We're having a smoke condition," Olender said. "We need direction as to where to direct our guests and our employees as soon as possible." An officer told Olender, "Okay, we're doing our best. We've got the fire department, everybody, we're trying to get up to you." Olender called 911 again.
"The condition up on 106 is getting worse," she said. "We're doing our best to get up to you right now," the officer said. "What quadrant of the building can we go into where we're not going to get into the smoke?" Olender asked.
Olender was told to call back in two minutes, but that was the last of it. About a month after the attack, Brzezinski learned Olender's remains had been found at Ground Zero, in one of the stairwells at the bottom of the World Trade Center. "Her funeral was actually on my aunt's birthday," Brzezinski said.
Olender has been honored at her alma mater, Resurrection College Prep High School. Her photo is in the chapel and a bench in a school park is dedicated to her memory. There's also a tribute to Olender in her family's clothing store on the Northwest Side – a collection of photos of her, her family, the Statue of Liberty, and the World Trade Center's twin towers.
The pictures include a photo from Christmas of 2000, one of the last family photos of Olender. Olender's parents, her sister Theresa, and brother Conrad all have passed away. Brzezinski said it's now up to her to keep Olender's memory alive.
"Not only Christine's legacy, and what she went through that day, but all 3,000 families are remembered, and that history is never forgotten," she said. Brzezinski said she hasn't been on an airplane since 9/11. It's just too painful.
She hopes that one day it will all get easier. In: Chicago Remembering 9/11 9/11
Source: CBS News
