by Kathleen Curatolo

I remember exactly what I was doing on Sept. 11, 2001. While driving to a principals’ meeting, I heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I announced this as I entered the meeting. A TV was turned on, and we watched as a second plane hit the towers, sending us back to our schools.

My mother called my school, Immaculate Conception, to say that my four brothers were all OK — three firefighters and one police officer — so my focus was the students. We gathered teachers and students in the gym to keep everyone together on this fearful day. From the roof, I watched the second tower fall, not realizing it had killed my youngest brother, firefighter Robert Curatolo of Ladder 16.

Robert loved working for the FDNY. When the planes hit the towers, he had just gotten off duty. He, another firefighter, and Lt. Ray Murphy rode with officers from the 19th Precinct downtown.

Robert coached high school basketball at Notre Dame Academy. I was told he used his deep coach’s voice to yell at dazed people to run and escape the falling debris as he led others away.

When the south tower fell, he survived inside a walkway between the towers and went right back to rescuing people.

Robert was seen pulling a man with two broken legs to safety before the north tower fell. He dove under a fire truck as he was trained to do, but that was little protection from a falling skyscraper.

My three brothers and my brother-in-law, a teacher, went looking through the debris for him. He was found two days later. We Curatolos believe this was a miracle, when 25 years later, families are still waiting to recover loved ones.

I can tell you firsthand that when tragedy strikes, we see the best in people.

My friend Linda, who was leaving the Staten Island Mall when I was entering, put her bags in the car and returned to help me find a black dress for the funeral. My neighbors stopped by with plates, paper towels, and toilet paper because they had seen all our visitors, and they knew we’d run out. School friends I hadn’t seen in years visited my parents. My fellow St. Mary’s choir members took off from work so the choir would be in full voice for Robert’s funeral. Strangers saluted as they saw my brother’s casket atop a fire truck on the way to St. Mary’s Church.

My family was shown numerous kindnesses from friends and strangers alike.

We saw the face of God in all.

Kathleen Curatolo is the principal of St. Patrick Catholic Academy in Bay Ridge.