Melissa Doi: Difference between revisions

Melissa Cándida Doi (September 1, 1969 — September 11, 2001)^[1] was an American senior manager^[3] at IQ Financial Systems, who died in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.^[1][4][5][6]

Doi is known for the recording of a 9-1-1 call she made during her final moments inside the South Tower, as it was engulfed in flames.^[7] Her emotional conversation with an emergency dispatcher was used during the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only criminal trial to result from the attacks.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Melissa Cándida Doi was born on September 1, 1969^[1] in the Bronx, New York,^[12] to Evelyn Alderete.^[13] Doi was an only child, and was raised by her single mother in East Harlem.^[14] Melissa's father was of Japanese ancestry, while her mother was of Puerto Rican descent.^[15] Melissa had a close relationship with her mother's family.^[15]

In 1987, Doi graduated from the Spence School, a prestigious all-girl's school in Manhattan's Upper East Side, before attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she graduated in 1991 with a sociology degree. She was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.^[16] Doi was said to have "loved" Northwestern and was looking forward to her 10th anniversary class reunion shortly before she was killed in the 9/11 attacks.^[16]

After graduation, Melissa worked in public relations before moving in to the world of finance. In the late 1990s, she joined IQ Financial Systems, a banking software company largely owned by Deutsche Bank.^[17][18] Melissa hsd played a role in starting the company.^[15]

Doi's passions included music and painting.^[16] A close friend described her as "incredibly physical".^[3] She had ambitions to become a ballet dancer,^[13] but enjoyed all kinds of dancing.^[17] Melissa enjoyed in-line skating, and was known to have purchased Rollerblades for children in Throgg's Neck, who she taught to skate.^[3]

Doi had a close relationship to her mother Evelyn, and they lived together at a condominium Doi purchased in Throgg's Neck, a traditionally German, Irish and Italian neighborhood in the Bronx.^[19][13] Prior to moving to Throgg's Neck, they had lived together in a heavily Puerto Rican neighborhood in East Harlem.^[20]

Although Doi had hoped to one day get married and start a family, she was never married, and had no children at the time of her death.^[21]

On August 16, 2006, the New York City Fire Department, acting under a court order, released the audiotapes of 1,631 calls to fire dispatchers, which included then 911 calls from trapped office workers, including Doi's.^[4] The call, which lasts 24 minutes, was released in 2006. The recording was played during the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.

Melissa Doi makes her call from the 83rd floor of the World Trade Center South Tower at 9:17 a.m., on September 11, 2001. When the South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175 at 9:03 a.m., she and five other people were trapped in the impact zone on the 83rd floor, where IQ Financial Systems was located.^[10] During the call, the operator tries to keep Doi calm and extract information from her. Doi says, "Well, there's no one here yet, and the floor's completely engulfed. We're on the floor and we can't breathe, And it's very, very, very hot".^[22]

During the crisis, Doi asks the dispatcher, "Can you stay on the line with me, please? I feel like I'm dying." The dispatcher urges Doi to keep breathing and praying, saying, "It's going to be fine" over and over, continuing to repeat this long after Doi had stopped talking.^[4][23] Near the end of the call, Doi spells out the last name of her mother and asks the dispatcher to set up a three-way call so that she can speak to her mother one last time. "We couldn't put her on," the dispatcher says, "We don't have a three-way system for that."

As smoke and heat begin to overcome her, Doi gives the 911 operator her mother's name and phone number in hopes of passing on a last message. That evening, Alderete receives a call from the 911 operator, Vanessa Barnes, who had spoken with Doi while she was trapped in the stairwell: "Tell my mother that I love her and that she's the best mom in the whole world."^[16]

After 24+1⁄2 minutes, the call cuts off. It took three years for her remains to be found in the rubble.^[21]

The Spence School has established the Melissa Candida Doi '87 Scholarship Fund, in memory of Melissa Doi. The endowment provides a 4-year scholarship to deserving Spence students.^[24] Another scholarship, the Melissa Doi Memorial Scholarship was established and fully endowed by the Sigma chapter of the Delta Gamma fraternity, which Melissa had joined at Northwestern University. It has been awarded since 2007.^[25]

Doi is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-46.^[1] of the National September 11 Memorial. She is also memorialized at 10 other locations across the United States, including the Queen Elizabeth II September 11th Garden.^[26]

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum hosts several of Melissa Doi's personal belongings, including her artwork, and her Rollerblade skates.^[27] Oral histories relating to Doi are also stored there.<ref name="National September 11 Memorial & Museum 2001 c701">

• Casualties of the September 11 attacks
• Frank De Martini
• Kevin Cosgrove
• Betty Ong
• List of tenants in Two World Trade Center

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melissa Doi.

• 911 Call from Melissa Doi on YouTube