Stephen K. Tompsett
9/11 dad will never be found
By ADAM HARVEY in New York
February 27, 2005
http://www.sundaytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,9353,12379336-28779,00.html
THE wife of Sydney September 11 victim Steve Tompsett has finally been told officially that the remains of her husband will never be recovered.
The announcement from the New York medical examiner's office has at least given Dorry Tompsett closure. "I felt from the beginning that there wasn't going to be anything left after the fires burned for so long," she said.
Officials have announced that it was unable to identify any remains of 1100 of the September 11 victims - almost half of those who died.
The DNA of six Australians, including Mr Tompsett, have not been found after three years of rigorous testing on almost 20,000 pieces of human remains. No DNA could be extracted from about 10,000 miniscule body parts. Just four Australian victims were identified by the examiner's office, Deputy Consul-General Bob Witynski said.
Without a body to bury Mrs Tompsett found other ways to mourn and remember Steve. She and her 13-year-old daughter Emily bought a plot in a nearby cemetery, but with nothing to put in the grave they chose to leave the space untouched and unmarked.
"We bought a bench in our town square - our town lost 23 people, and we have a memorial and that's where we go. It's more like Steve to have a bench in his memory than a grave," she said. Mr Tompsett was a 39-year-old computer and maths whiz who rose to become a senior vice-president of corporate technology with Instinet, a company that makes an electronic stockbroking device.
He was at the World Trade Centre's Windows on the World restaurant for an early morning business conference.
The obituaries and tributes placed around the Tompsett's Long Island house describe a warm and generous man who was so popular in the office that people actually went to work at Instinet because of him.
A New York Times article described the sandcastles he made with Emily.
Mrs Tompsett says it is important to maintain a physical reminder of Steve and what happened.
The Tompsett's Long Island home is a memorial to that day: an American flag with the names of the dead covers an entire window, framed photographs of Mr Tompsett stand in each room and 9/11-themed picture books and tributes are arranged on several tables.
The Sunday Telegraph
Stephen K. Tompsett
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http://www.legacy.com/LegacyTribute/Sept11.asp?Page=TributeStory&PersonId=139438
Family, Faith and Job
In summer, Stephen Tompsett liked to build sand castles on the beach with his 10-year-old daughter. But because he was a math whiz, his sand constructions were a bit different.
"They were elaborate sand castles with moats," said Geralyn Szuba, his sister-in-law. "And I swear, they were timed with the tides. As soon as he finished, the tides would come in and fill the moats."
Mr. Tompsett, 39, a computer scientist and vice president at the Instinet Corporation who was attending a meeting at Windows on the World on Sept. 11, was a rare combination of brilliant, easygoing and religious, she said. Raised in Australia, he came to New York 13 years ago on business, promptly fell in love -- with the city and his future wife -- and settled in.
Instinet employees celebrated when he became their boss. When he attended meetings, they could dispense with note-taking. "Stephen," Ms. Szuba said, "would remember everything verbatim." And he gave everybody the same advice: " 'Your family comes first. Then your faith. Then your job.' How often do you hear that --especially on Wall Street?"
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 11, 2001.
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