Forever in Our Hearts — Karen Martin

With the announcement of the Osama Bin Laden on Sunday night, there was a palpable silence across the nation. As the reality set in, there seemed to be an odd mix of celebration and reflection, as the country expelled 10 years of collective resentment aimed at enemy No. 1: bin Laden.

Joan Greener was stunned at first by the reports on Sunday night.

“When the break up in the program happened, and I saw it (on the news), I mean you think and pray and hope that something will happen...I was crying my eyes out, it was so unreal I didn’t know if I could believe it. I’m feeling more confident (that it’s true) now, but it’s bittersweet,” Greener said.

Greener’s niece, Karen Martin of Danvers, was the head flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center, and Martin and other crew members were specifically targeted by the terrorist hijackers on that fateful flight. Martin became the first victim of the attacks.

Her family learned from various sources close to the investigation that she was brutally attacked on the plane for the keys to the cockpit, which were in her possession.

“When they went after her, she was in their face and they (the terrorists) cut her with the box-cutters in the stomach. But we know she stood up to them,” Greener said. She once asked Martin if she was afraid her job may put her at risk of terrorist attacks, but Martin would not consider it.

“She said, ‘I love my job and whatever happens, happens. I love my job,” Greener recalls. “She loved people, but wasn’t intimidated by people, and I know she didn't go down without a fight.”

It was the years of not knowing if Bin Laden would ever be held accountable for planning the most egregious attacks ever carried out on American soil that were the most difficult for Martin’s relatives.

“It’s like if somebody killed someone you love, they get put in jail and they get a death sentence. That provides closure for the families. So I feel that this was justice for Karen and all these people. I’m very happy he is no longer on this earth,” Greener said.

Although Greener acknowledges that nothing can fill the void left by the loss of loved ones, she hopes there is some measure of relief for the families of the victims.

“Justice has been served,” she said. “They, (the victims), hopefully can rest a little easier.”

With this latest chapter written, Greener knows there is no sense in dwelling on the sadness of the loss of her niece, but hopes for the future, Martin’s memory and her lasting legacy.

The family established the Karen Martin Memorial Fund to keep Martin’s memory alive and has dedicated it to providing assistance to North Shore children in need.

“We have tried to make a difference in the lives of these children,” said Greener. “For instance, we gave a digital piano to a blind child in Danvers. This child would go down to Steve’s Instruments every day and play the piano there — he was obsessed with it. The family couldn’t afford to buy one for him, so we did. We also donated money to a little boy in Danvers with leukemia who needed a kidney transplant.”

 The fund has helped countless other local children and children’s causes, from donating to the Beverly School for the Deaf to complete its playground, to a season of horseback riding-physical therapy sessions for a disabled girl at Windrush Farm in Boxford. There was a scholarship awarded to for the child of a single parent and money for a family burned out of their home in Salem to get back on their feet.

“These things are costly and it takes a toll on parents,” Greener said. 

One cause that has become close to Greener’s heart are children suffering from the premature aging disease Progeria. Through the Memorial fund, she has been able to make substantial donations to the Progeria Research Foundation, and through this research great strides have been made over the last 10 years.

“Within three years they found the gene that causes it,” she said. “Today, Children’s Hospital is providing treatment to children with all forms of aging diseases and we hope to continue to find a cure.”

There has not been a benefit (for the Memorial fund) for several years. Greener explains: “After my daughter died, I lost a little momentum and I can’t do it alone. But I would love to do another benefit to keep her fund going and replenish it, but I need a strong team behind me to get things going again.”

Past benefits have been very successful at the , with over 750 people in attendance. Events featured a silent auction, music and dancing.

“Karen loved to dance,” Greener said. “So it’s a fitting tribute to her.”

With time comes healing.

Greener’s great-granddaughter Emma Grace Cunningham (the first!) was born on Martin’s birthday. “She's a gift, and it’s helped us heal,” Greener said.

With long legs and the typical Martin build, like Karen, she even has her laugh, Greener said. “She’s just like her. We say all the time, ‘Karen, are you in there?’”

As a woman of faith, Greener is always aware of the signs that she says Martin and her own daughter, Lynne, are sending her. “Kisses from Heaven” arrive in the form of dimes and appear seemingly out of thin air, sometimes three and four in a day,” Greener said.

“It lifts my spirits up when I see them, and I say, ‘Thank you, girls.’ My daughter would have been forty-one and Karen was forty, so I call them: ‘The Forever Forties.’ I know Karen never wanted to grow old, so what a place to be, forever forty,” Greener said.

She said, “I want to keep Karen’s memory alive and strong; I don’t want people to forget her. She left us all with a smile on our face and a broken heart.”

To contact Joan Greener about the Karen Martin Memorial Fund and to help plan a 10th anniversary benefit, contact Greener by e-mail at billjoan@verizon.net or give her a call: 978-745-2573 or 978-771-9121.