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John Willet, former Taney County Treasurer was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11

As we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11 the parents of one young area man killed in the atacks have been speaking to school students, about that day.
For many area residents the events of Sept. 11, 2001 remain etched in their memories. All Americans were effected by the events of that day, 10 years ago, and one Ozarks family has been carrying the loss of their son in the World Trade Center with them.
In the mid-1990s, then-Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan appointed JohnWillett to finish an unexpired term as Taney County treasurer.

At the time, Willett was called the state’s youngest county treasurer. Jim Sturgeon, a UMKC economics professor, stayed in touch with Willett after he earned his master’s degree there. When Willett moved to New York City recently, he invited Sturgeon to stay with him if he ever visited the Big Apple. “He was a good student, very energetic,” Sturgeon said. “He helped put up a Web site for a professor, before there was too much of that going on.”

Though from a small town, Willett loved big cities. He had been all over the world, from London to Prague before finding himself employed at CO2e.com, a division of Cantor Fitzgerald. His division facilitated the growing practice of “emissions trading” between organizations or governments to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

He was at work when the attacks began.
In fact, he was on the phone in his 101st-floor World Trade Center office when a jetliner crashed into his south tower Tuesday morning. The phone line went dead instantly, his parents, who live in Walnut Shade, seven miles north of Branson ,learned later.

For three days, they prayed that John was alive in a hospital. But Friday morning, they received a call from the president of Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, where John worked. John did not escape.

He was 29 years old.

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