Ride of Honor: Local Women Thrilled to be Part of 9/11 Anniversary Memorial

By the time you read this, Linda Pasetti-Olson and Jennifer Wheeler will likely be in New York.

The local pair—Pasetti-Olson is from Montgomery, Wheeler from Naperville—left from Wheeler’s home on Saturday morning, riding their motorcycles east. Their destination: New York City, where, on Sunday, they will take part in a memorial service to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Pasetti-Olson and Wheeler are both members of the Motor Maids, the country’s oldest women’s motorcycle group, and on Sunday, they will join their fellow riders to escort a group of firefighters to Ground Zero for the memorial.

The two of them—friends for years, with an easy familiarity about them—can talk casually about their trip, but both clearly think of it as a great honor, a chance to be part of history. So much so, that the two have made a pact—if one of them breaks down on the road, the other will go on, Pasetti-Olson said.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” she said. “I’m very humbled by it.”

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Both Wheeler and Pasetti-Olson remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. And both remember the sense of shock and disbelief they felt upon hearing that America had been attacked.

“I was in sales, and I should have been on my way to work, but I wasn’t,” Wheeler said. “I had the news on, and this thing came over the news about the first airplane hitting the tower. I was late to work. I kept my eyes peeled on the news.”

Pasetti-Olson said she was working at her job at a credit union, and saw the news reports on a break room television. She said she couldn’t tear herself away.

“I saw the second tower fall, and I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I couldn’t even imagine that something like that could happen.”

Pasetti-Olson said she called family right away, to make sure they were all right. (She has two daughters, and five grandchildren; Wheeler has three children and two grandkids.) Her husband Rick was working in an office building in Chicago at the time, which was quickly evacuated. No one knew whether another attack was imminent, he said.

Wheeler, meanwhile, said she couldn’t stop watching the news. When she finally made it in to work around noon, she said her coworkers talked about nothing else.

For the next few days, she remembers, there wasn’t an airplane in the sky. And for the next few weeks, people were more courteous.

Before 9/11, Pasetti-Olson said, she never worried about an attack on U.S. soil. The events of that day, she said, have shown her how vulnerable we are. And Wheeler said 9/11 made her more politically aware, and active.

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It was that political activism that brought them together—they met while volunteering for Rep. Judy Biggert’s campaign years later. Pasetti-Olson and her husband Rick Olson are members of ABATE (A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education), a group that fights for rights of motorcyclists. Their shared interests formed a bond between the two, although both readily admit they drift in and out of each other’s lives.

It was Wheeler who joined up with Motor Maids first. She started riding motorcycles in the spring of 2001, she said—“I was dating someone with a motorcycle, and that ended, but I still wanted to ride,” she said. “I missed riding more than him.”

Wheeler owns her own business, called Wheel Packaging, and also works as a sales manager for Triple S Services, makers of vending machines. It was through sales calls, about four years ago, that she met her first Motor Maid, and they talked cycles. She joined up shortly after that.

And when she heard that the Motor Maids would be part of the 9/11 anniversary service, planned for Sunday at the newly-erected memorial at Ground Zero, she sent out a call to every female cyclist she knew. Remarkably, only Pasetti-Olson answered.

Both women have their own ideas about why the response was so low. Joining Motor Maids requires a certain expense, to buy a uniform and pay the registration fee. Some people just didn’t have the vacation time, and couldn’t make the trip. Pasetti-Olson is retired after a career in info technology, and she said she understands that others may not be able to drop everything for something like this.

But both said there’s no way they wouldn’t be a part of this, no matter what they had to do.

“It’s going to be a sobering, solemn, memorable experience,” Wheeler said. “How could you turn it down? It’s the chance of a lifetime.”

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To hear Pasetti-Olson and Wheeler talk about their trip, you’d think they were sisters, used to each other’s idiosyncrasies. Pasetti-Olson is the planner—days before the trip, she had their scenic route to New York painstakingly mapped out. Wheeler, on the other hand, was prepared to deviate from that course if need be.

Having never taken a long motorcycle trip together, the pair decided to make a practice run, to Peoria for a Motor Maids event three weeks ago. It gained them an opportunity to meet others in the organization, and to see how they ride together.

“We did OK,” Pasetti-Olson said. “Jen is the leader, I’m the follower.”

When asked why that is, Wheeler laughed and said, “My speedometer is broken.” She admits she is “geographically challenged,” though, and needs Pasetti-Olson to help navigate.

The two of them plan to reach New York sometime today. When they do, they will get more details on the memorial ceremony itself—scheduled for 8:40 a.m. on Sunday—and their role in it. The ceremony will include four moments of silence, one to commemorate each plane hitting the towers, and each tower falling.

The names of the nearly 3,000 victims of the New York attacks will be read aloud, and the memorial will be dedicated. (It will be opened to the public on Monday.) Several dignitaries, including President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, will attend, along with families of the victims, and the first responders who worked to save lives that day.

The Motor Maids will escort members of the International Association of Fire Fighters to the memorial. Pasetti-Olson is set to display the Illinois flag from her bike, and she has also attached decals provided by the .

Wheeler, meanwhile, will sport a fireman’s helmet provided by her uncle, Robert Steck, a Naperville firefighter for seven years. He left the Naperville Fire Department to become an air traffic controller, Wheeler said, but remained a volunteer firefighter for years after that.

Wheeler said she feels a little strange, being part of the ceremony despite not losing a friend or loved one in the attacks. But she and her traveling partner both said they feel privileged and honored to be chosen for this.

“We’re there because we’re American citizens, and we care about this country,” Wheeler said.

Check back throughout the week for updates and pictures from the road from Wheeler and Pasetti-Olson.