West Orange Woman Helped Save Lives On 9/11, Historian Says

WEST ORANGE, NJ — “Everyone out now!” This was the command from Kandace Sparks, a former flight attendant who helped guide a large group of office workers to safety after two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in 2001.

Now, 20 years after the 9/11 attacks, Sparks is living in West Orange with her husband and two children, decades removed from her heroism on that tragic day. And when town historian Joe Fagan recently asked Sparks to reflect on how it has changed her, she had a simple reply.

“I have tried each day since to always remember to become a better person.”

Earlier this week, Fagan told Patch about a conversation he had with Sparks as the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches.

“The fateful events of a September morning two decades ago remain etched in our collective memory,” Fagan said. “It endures for many as a moment frozen in time, but has triumphantly emerged from ashes of destruction.”

And Sparks is one of the people whose actions that day should be remembered, he said.

According to Fagan:

“Kandace Sparks, originally from Pittsburgh, was a basketball standout for Springfield Gardens High School in Queens, NY during the 1980s. She was named a NY Daily News All Star for three consecutive years. Following high school, she continued her basketball career at Manhattan Community College. A power forward on that same team was Dana Elaine Owens, who eventually became professionally known as Queen Latifah. Sparks and her teammates would regularly listen to Owens’ music demo tapes on the long rides to away games during the 1987-88 season. Both women likely could have made it to the WNBA, but the league’s formation was years away and their respective careers blossomed in different directions.”

Sparks later became a flight attendant, traversing the globe on international routes for more than seven years, Fagan said. Her outgoing personality made her a natural fit for the job.

“This training and experience, however, were unknowingly preparing her for the next chapter of life,” he added.

In 1998, Sparks moved to a Central Park North apartment in Manhattan. She began working for the Oppenheimer Fund that occupied office space on several levels above the 30th floor at the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

When Fagan asked Sparks if she ever felt uncomfortable about working in a skyscraper, she brought up a memory that she had of a few weeks before the attacks. She told him:

“I remember seeing several FDNY fire trucks at the ground level of our building one day. I was the fire marshal on our floor and never received an adequate explanation of why they were there. I think that sight unleashed a vulnerability I hadn’t previously considered. Until then I wasn’t concerned about being so far above street level … That really made me think.”

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, Sparks arrived for work as usual. Heavy on her mind that morning was the company’s reorganization plan announced the day before. It was the topic of discussion that Monday night as she and fellow employees dined over sushi at Windows on the World Restaurant on the North Tower's 107th floor.

And that’s when it happened, Fagan said:

“Without warning, at 8:46 a.m. everyone on her floor heard a deafening explosion with an ensuing percussion that shook the building. Almost immediately, Sparks recalls thinking it was a bomb. It was not yet known that hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston struck the North Tower above the 93rd floor.”

He continued:

“No one could see the smoke and flames but amidst growing panic and confusion, her instincts and training kicked in. ‘Everyone out now,’ she shouted. There was no negotiating with her as she took charge while colleagues looked on in stunned bewilderment. Most went willingly to the stairwells and elevators but those who hesitated went convinced by her persistence. ‘Keep moving, keep moving, don’t stop,’ she repeated in a loud-but-convincing voice.”

Sparks’ quick thinking saved lives that day, Fagan said:

“At 9:03 a.m., from the relative safety outside the building, Sparks heard the unmistakable sound of a jet engine. She looked up and saw the underbelly of United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the South Tower. It was 30 floors above where she and co-workers had just evacuated. Sparks was one of countless guardian angels that day and, due in part to her actions, her entire floor made it safely out and away before the buildings collapsed.”

Sparks moved from Manhattan to West Orange in 2009, where she now lives with her husband and two children who attend public school. And her mission to “remember to become a better person” is living testimony that the world will just never know the actions of some of its greatest heroes, Fagan said.

• See related article: Essex County To Hold 9/11 Ceremony At Eagle Rock Reservation

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