SALEM A mother holds on to hope

Eleanor Salter's daughter was working in the World Trade Center's South Tower during Tuesday's attack.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Eleanor Salter says everyone is remarking on her composure in confronting a mother's worst nightmare, a missing child.
In Salter's case, it's her daughter Catherine Salter, 36, who cannot be found.
The 1982 Wellsville High School valedictorian was last heard from as she prepared to flee the office in which she worked on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center's South Tower.
The 110-story structure was the second of the twin buildings slammed into by a hijacked airliner Tuesday morning.
Employer: Catherine, an office manager for Anon Corp., a law firm, has been missing since the horrific assault.
"I have a strong faith in God," Eleanor Salter said this morning as she explained her composure in handling the torturous days she's spent worrying about her daughter, one of six children.
"We're still waiting. We're still hoping," said Salter, who lives in Rogers and is a cashier at East Liverpool City Hospital.
Despite Tuesday's events, she has still been reporting for work.
"I come to work because the people here at the hospital are very caring," Salter said.
But despite the support she's getting from family and co-workers, the waiting is difficult.
"The strain of not knowing is really eating me up," Salter said.
Seeing the images of the plane's impact, the fireball that followed and the building crumbling to the ground "tears your insides apart," she added. "It's like somebody took everything out of me. I don't feel whole any more."
Last conversation: Salter has learned from family members that Catherine's former boss called Catherine moments after a plane smashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower.
Catherine told him they were evacuating and hung up. About 18 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower, damaging floors 87 through 93.
Salter is praying Catherine found a way to get out.
Her boyfriend is in New York searching for her, hoping to find her among the survivors, Salter related.
Catherine was transferred from Anon's Cincinnati office to its New York operation in January 2000. She was thrilled at the opportunity to work in the city, Salter recalled.
She described her daughter as warm, caring and family-oriented. "She's just a beautiful person," Salter said.
She last saw Catherine at a family gathering in October.
"I hugged her and kissed her and said I loved her," Salter remembered.
In the days since the assault, Salter has been trying to grasp the acts of terror that have claimed so many lives.
"All they've done is unite this country to the point where it will go to war over it," Salter said. "I don't want war, but I don't want this happening again."
Tuesday's acts "cannot go unanswered," she added.