9/11: Remembering 2 Hinsdale Residents Killed In Terrorist Attack

HINSDALE, IL — Many towns have connections to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Hinsdale has at least two — Jeff Mladenik and Robert Rasmussen.

Mladenik was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 when al-Qaida terrorists hijacked it and flew it into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York.

Rasmussen had lived in Hinsdale for a couple of years when the attacks happened. A financial analyst, he was in the south tower of the World Trade Center when the planes struck.

Rasmussen grew up in Hunter, N.D. He received a bachelor's degree in construction engineering and a master's degree in business administration.

Mladenik had longer ties to Hinsdale. In 2011, Patch interviewed Mladenik's wife, Sue Mladenik, who was at home when the attacks occurred. Sue, now a Sugar Grove resident, couldn't be reached for comment this week. Audio from the 2011 interview remains on Patch's website. This account is based on that recording.

In 2001, Jeff had become interim CEO of an internet publishing firm. In this role, he was often traveling.

Sept. 11, 2001, was a regular day for Sue. She had just gotten her son off to high school on the bus. She was making her bed, trying to stay quiet because her 4-year-old, Grace, was still sleeping.

Jeff, a Christian pastor, was in Boston and planning to take a flight to Los Angeles. Boston was not in her husband's original plan, but he needed to go there to deal with a customer who was upset his company fired his predecessor. The customer threatened to pull his contract.

Shortly after 8 a.m., Mladenik got a call from her husband's best friend, asking whether she was watching CNN.

Her husband's friend told her a plane hit the World Trade Center. This put Sue Mladenik in motion, trying to get answers.

She told Patch in 2011 that she usually had her husband's flight itineraries, but this time, she did not.

"I started getting panic-stricken. I wanted to know which flight he was on," she said.

She called her husband's boss about the flight information, but his boss didn't have it at his fingertips.

Meanwhile, Grace had woken up. And her son in high school called to ask what was going on, wanting to know where his dad was.

Her husband's friend picked him up from school.

A little while later, Sue got the news.

"His boss called back and said he was booked on American Airlines Flight 11. He said, 'You know Jeff. He gets to the airport early. He gets on the first available flight. He doesn't waste time. There's a good chance he's not on that plane.'"

But Sue could get no answers from the airline, which insisted it did not have the list of passengers. One of her neighbors who had a friend who worked for American Airlines suggested that Sue ask for a supervisor and not take no for an answer.

"They put me on hold three different times, and I got three different supervisors," Sue said.

Then the airline confirmed Jeff was on the flight. The airline said it would send a grief counselor to speak to her, which she rejected.

Soon after, the FBI came by to verify that her husband was not a terrorist.

"They said they had to check all the passengers," Sue said. "That was not fun."

The morning after she found out the news, her doorbell was ringing, and media were in her driveway.

"I had to threaten them with the police to get them to leave. I didn't want cameras at my front door," Sue said.

In the days afterward, Sue said she became a hermit.

"I couldn't go out and face people everywhere I went. There would be that look that comes on their face when they saw me," she said. "I did my grocery shopping three towns over at night, just so I wouldn't see anybody and deal with it."

Yet, she said people were supportive of her and her family. Her children struggled in the beginning, which was difficult to watch because she could do nothing about it.

"I could barely hold myself together," she said in the 2011 interview. "They all have come a long way. I think they're on the right track and have done well."

She credited her youngest daughter, Grace, for giving her a reason to get out of bed.

"At first, it was hard for her. She asked, 'When daddy comes home, are we going to ... ?' That put a knife in my heart," Sue said.

But Sue said Grace kept her focused. She still took her daughter to ballet.

"She was so innocent," Sue said. "You move on, but you never get over it. Your life changes, you find new normals."

Sue changes the faucet. She takes out the garbage. She cleans the pool.

"It's not that I am strong, but I do what I have to do," Sue said.