The tragedy that occurred in New York on 11 September 2001 – forever known as 9/11 – was an international tragedy with a local element. Two people born in Hull lost their lives that day. They were sister and brother Christine and Michael Egan.
Christine and Michael were born in Hull in 1946 and 1950 and went to local primary schools. Christine then went to St Mary’s Grammar School and Michael to Marist College. When Christine left school she trained as a nurse at the Hull School of Nursing, graduating in 1967 and soon after emigrating to Canada. She established a distinguished career in nursing, both in southern Canada and amongst residents of Inuit hamlets throughout Nunavut (then part of Canada’s North West Territories), and in First Nations communities in Manitoba. She pursued advanced study in anthropology and nursing, and researched livelihood, nutrition and environmental health among the Inuit. This culminated in a doctorate in community health sciences from the University of Manitoba and lifelong dedication to service in health care and research.
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| Christine and Michael at her PhD convocation, 1999 [Picture courtesy of Ellen Judd] |
She came to Hull to see family and friends almost every year for 30 years.
Michael joined his sister in Canada in the 1970s and worked in insurance, firstly in Montreal where he met his wide Anna. They lived in Bermuda where their sons were born. Michael eventually became Vice-President of multinational insurance company AON, moving to New Jersey when AON opened new offices in the World Trade Centre in New York. Michael and his family regularly visited Hull too.
In early September 2001, Christine flew from Winnipeg to New Jersey for Michael and Anna’s 20th wedding anniversary. She was to look after their younger son for the couple to celebrate their anniversary back in Bermuda. Michael was going to take his sister to look round the new offices in the South Tower on 10 September but Christine hurt her knee playing with her nephew, so the visit was rearranged for the following day, 11 September. They were in Michael’s offices on the 104th floor in the South Tower when it was struck. Michael saw to the evacuation of as many people as possible but he and Christine tragically lost their lives.
In Spring 2002 Christine and Michael’s families and friends from Canada and around the UK gathered in Hull for a memorial service in St Charles’ Church. There was a procession to Queen’s Gardens where two memorial stones were inaugurated in the Peace Garden there. Afterwards speeches and tributes were given, remembering both of them, including one from a colleague of Michael’s whose life he had saved.
The Dr Christine Egan Memorial Scholarship Fund was established by her estate, family, friends and colleagues to perpetuate her values of generosity and caring by supporting the Inuit of Nunavut in pursuing university study in nursing. Following in his father Michael’s footsteps, Jonathan Egan who lives in New York, is now a partner in Lockdon, the biggest independent insurance broker in the world, and is involved in a number of charities related to the impacts of 9/11.
The memorial stones stood in the Peace Garden until 2016 when a ceremony took place in Queen’s Gardens on the 15th anniversary of the tragedy. In 2017 Hull City Council moved the stones to the grounds of Hull History Centre, where they are placed in a small garden.
The memorial to Christine Egan is inscribed with words expressing a portion of the love and vision of her life: “Her roots were in Hull and her heart embraced the world.” These are followed by ‘Dearly Beloved’, written in Inuktitut -- Qatangutiga Naligimaliktara. Michael’s memorial is dedicated to his wife Anna and sons Jonathan and Matthew, and is inscribed “The bridge between the land of the living and the land of the dead is love.”
Christine's and Michael's memorial, Hull History Centre, September 2021
City Archivist
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