‘I’m coming home’: Last words haunt a 9/11 daughter 25 years later as she builds a legacy in his honor
Remembering William Fallon Jr.: A 9/11 tragedy that sparked a life‑long mission of healing
When the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, 38‑year‑old William Lawrence Fallon Jr., an IT manager at Cantor Fitzgerald, was one of the many who never made it home. His daughter, Kayla Fallon Smith, now 33, grew up without the man who had once called every Sunday morning to tell her daughters what the skyline looked like and how the sun was shining above the city.
A morning routine that became a daily ritual
From a young age, Kayla recalled how her father would wake before dawn, work out on the weight rack in the living room, and then call the house phone. “He would get up early, work out, and you could hear the weights dropping,” she said. “Then he’d call the girls, say ‘Have a good morning,’ and describe what the skyline looked like—cloudy below, sun up there.” Those calls were a comforting backdrop to the day’s bustle and, for Kayla, a reminder of her father’s presence even when he was at work.
The last call
On the morning of September 11, 2001, after the first tower had been struck, Fallon made a call to his daughters. Kayla’s mother answered the phone, and the conversation would become the last thing anyone would ever hear from him. “He said, ‘I’m getting out. I’m coming home,’ and that was it,” Kayla recalled. “Then he asked me to turn on the news. After that, he hung up.”
The family never heard from him again. “Those words haunt me a little bit,” Kayla said. “Grief never truly goes away. It changes over time, but the loss remains.”
A life shaped by loss
Growing up without her father, Kayla became a licensed mental‑health counselor. In 2019 she founded Trails of Purpose, a nonprofit that offers free counseling and equine‑assisted therapy to military personnel, veterans, first responders, and their families. “I needed a place to just be when my brain always felt on fire,” she said. “I think I’ve created that, and it’s resonating with people.”
Trails of Purpose has since provided more than 30,000 hours of counseling and equine therapy. Kayla said the horses “have a connection that words can’t capture; they can just be there with you.” She noted that she had never experienced equine therapy as a child, even though many 9/11 victims received other forms of trauma treatment.
Honoring a legacy
Kayla’s work is part of a broader movement among families of 9/11 victims to transform grief into community service. “If we can remember the feeling that we had on September 12th, I think that would be my biggest point of education for the next generation,” she told reporters. “I want to share my father’s story so that people understand the impact of that day.”
William Fallon Jr.’s memory lives on not only in the stories told by his daughter but also in the countless lives that Trails of Purpose touches each year. His voice on that fateful morning—“I’m getting out. I’m coming home”—remains a quiet testament to a life cut short and the resilience that followed.
