Snellville Remembers 9/11: Elena Diaz

Elena Diaz is a retired Gwinnett County educator and still works part time for the Gwinnett County school system. She was teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) at Hopkins Elementary in Lilburn when the towers were hit.

“It was hard trying to act like everything was normal so the students wouldn’t find out anything,” Diaz said. “The kids could tell something weird was going on but we really couldn’t vocalize any of it. I can remember parents coming in checking out students all day long.”

“We had some teachers on staff from New York City who still had family members there," she added. "I remember having to cover for some of them so they could go find out how their family members were. It just felt like you were going through the motions, kind of disoriented.”

Diaz’s oldest daughter was away at Berry College in Rome, Ga.

“I called her and she was also sending me notes in an email. She was in student government and authorities in Atlanta were contacting them in case people in Atlanta had to be evacuated for some reason. They were considering sending some evacuees to Berry College.”

Diaz was born in Cuba but has lived in the United States since she was 12. She said she just never thought something like that could happen here.

“I always wonder now when I travel or when I’m in a big city like that, it’s always in the back of my mind," she said. "It brought to life for me the vulnerability that we have as a country that I never had before. “