Remembering Joseph Roberto

Joseph Roberto

37 years old

Midland, New Jersey

A Family is

a circle of strength and love.

With every birth and every union the circle grows.

Every joy shared adds more love.

Every crisis faced together

makes the circle stronger.

Joseph "Joe" Roberto was a son, brother, uncle, husband, and father.

He was devoted to his family and his family devoted to him.

He was a friend and colleague.

He maintained a solid work ethic and held himself to high expectations.

He enjoyed life: motorcycles, riding his motorcycle and investigating the battlefields in Virginia and West Virginia, exploring nature with his son, collecting coins, putting up his parents holiday decorations and gathering his own.

He is loved.

When I first received my name from the 2996 project I felt an immediate connection to Joseph Roberto as he shares a variation of my father's name. As I started my research I found it difficult to find much information to share, but I continued to dig and search. Finally I found this site and I learned much more about this person whom we all lost on September 11, 2001. I am honored and humbled to share this tribute today on the 8th anniversary of the greatest loss we have felt on our soil. May the Roberto family be blessed and my God bless the United States of America.

Peace

I'll Never Forget

So there is so much I could write about today however I feel I have to talk about 9/11. I am watching the history channel right now as I type and it brings everything back. I remember watching the today show. My children were very little, 1year and 3 years old. I watched the newscast live as the second plane struck the world trade center. I remember that I couldn't look away even as horrified as I felt. I remember feeling helpless and hopeless. I did not know anyone who perished in that attack yet it hit me like a ton of bricks. In retrospect I think it furthered a depression I may have already been struggling with after the death of my mother in law and my mother in the previous year. It took me a long time before I let go of the anxiety I would have when I heard a plane overhead. Today I think of all the families who were effected by this terrorist attack. I think of the babies who were not yet born to the fathers who perished in the towers. My heart goes out to all the families who are struggling with this anniversary.

Peace!