MARLENE QUINN
One of our own employees has found the national media spotlight for her Good Samaritan efforts to return a 9/11 bracelet to its rightful owner.
Marlene Quinn, a nurse who works in the Emergency Department, was walking along the beach at Robert Moses State Park about 10 days ago when she found the bracelet, engraved with the name of fallen New York City firefighter Michael Otten, who died on Sept. 11. She tracked down the bracelet’s owner, Michael’s son Jonathan Otten, who had lost the bracelet on the beach a decade earlier.
"Michael J. Otten," the inscription read. "F.D.N.Y. LADDER 35 9/11/01." Quinn remembered Otten’s name, because he was the only person from her town of East Islip who perished when the Twin Towers fell. She tracked down an address for the family – who it turned out live just one block from where Quinn grew up, along with her late brother, Michael O’Neill, also a firefighter, who recently passed away. Marlene put the bracelet in the mail to the family, along with a note.
Her good deed has drawn media attention from the likes of CNN, NBC, CBS and Huffington Post, among others.
Thanks, Marlene, for your thoughtful act. It truly makes a meaningful difference in one family’s life on the eve of the 13th anniversary of 9/11.