NSBNews.net video / Volusia County Council Chairman Frank Bruno speaks exclusively with NSBNews.net about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in Editor/Publisher Henry Frederick's New Smyrna Beach home. Bruno has agreed to join NSBNews.net's exclusive network of bloggers.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Volusia County Councilman Frank Bruno and his wife, Mary, have a connection to 9/11: Her cousin ran for his life from the collapsing Twin Towers.
Her cousin, Henry Pavlack, was working for a financial services company in the second tower and managed to get out safely before it came crashing down.
(2).jpg)
Frank and Mary Bruno as shown at the 2011 NSB High School graduation at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach in May where they showed support for their niece, Ashley Thurman.
The Brunos are from the northern New Jersey County of Bergen where they were high school sweethearts, she in Glen Rock and he in Ridgewood. They graduated in 1964, married in '68 and moved here in 1970. They currently live in Ponce Inlet.
"I remember my cousin telling me he ran all the way to the river and when he got home, he was in a daze," Mary Bruno recalled in a phone interview Saturday.
Frank Bruno spoke about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in an exclusive video camera interview with NSBNews.net in New Smyrna Beach later in the afternoon.
Bruno pointed out that while history tends to fade for those not directly impacted by a major crisis, for the families of those killed in the 9/11 attacks, the memories are much more pronounced.
If anything positive came out of 9/11, "It brought a whole country together," Bruno said.