Riegelwood woman remembers niece who died in World Trade Center on 9/11

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The towers crumbled in New York City on September 11, 2001, but the heartbreak was felt around the country and impacted families everywhere, including in the Cape Fear.

On Monday, September 10, 2001, Tamitha Freeman was wrapping up a weekend spent with her family in Columbus County. She lived and worked in New York City, but grew up spending her summers with her family in North Carolina.

“[Tamitha] brought her son, he was a baby. We spent the whole weekend together doing the things she wanted to do and all the things she loved,” Freeman’s aunt Davoria Berry said. “She made sure she had everything she wanted when she came to visit. Her boiled peanuts, stopping at her favorite place called Merrits, which is a burger place.”

That night, Tamitha Freeman missed her 8 pm flight out of Myrtle Beach to New York City. Her aunt, Riegelwood resident Davoria Berry, offered to come back and get her, but Freeman waited for the 11 pm flight because she had work the next day in the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Freeman caught the flight and arrived back in New York City late Monday night. She made it to work on September 11. At 9:03 am, a second plane collided with the tower Freeman worked in.

“We’re not exactly sure and I don’t like to speculate on what happened or how it transpired,” Berry said. “All I know is that she didn’t make it out and that we were devastated and we looked for her and we didn’t find her.”

Some members of the family live in New York and others all live along the same street in Columbus County. Despite the distance, the family is very close and always has been. The tragedy did not change that. In fact, Berry said it brought them closer together and they leaned on one another for support.

“For our family, like I said, it was devastating. because you’ve never experienced anything like that. For it to be such a horrific event for the country…it’s unbelievable,” Berry said. “You didn’t even think something like this would happen.”

Always on the move, Berry said Freeman was the life of the party. She loved to have fun and loved to love others.

“She was full of life and she lived her life to the fullest. Her friends were just as important to her as her family,” Berry said. “She just loved everybody. I can’t say a person that Tam did not like. I mean, she just liked to love everybody.”

Berry and Freeman were only 6 months apart, so Berry said they were more like sisters. A profound loss, Berry, like the rest of their family, relied on her strong faith in God to get her through the grieving process.

“But you question God, why? Then you go back and look at her life and then you see why,” Berry said. “It’s because of who she was. She was a jewel and He needs jewels, so He plucked her.”

20 years later and Berry said sometimes it still feels like yesterday. This year, she and her family are choosing to remember Tamitha the way that she would have wanted.

“Tomorrow is not promised and that’s how I feel that she lived her life, that she knew that tomorrow wasn’t promised so we need to enjoy it as it comes,” Berry said.

A memorial and a celebration of Tamitha Freeman’s life are planned for Saturday. Berry said she is missed dearly every day, but this is going to be a happy occasion to honor Freeman “Tam-Style.”

“Once you get to that place where you accept it, you know this is it,” Berry said. “This is where it is and this is what we have and what we have is more memories of happiness than the memories of sadness.”

Around the time of the tragedy, Berry found out she was pregnant. To honor Tamitha, she named her youngest daughter Tamra. She said she lives up to the name, embodying the same fiery, fun, and loving personality as Tamitha.