Families presume women from area died in attack

The only trace found so far is an identification card belonging to Ruth Ketler.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- The families of two former Mercer County women believed lost when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York have given up hopes of finding them alive.
Memorial services have been scheduled for Rebecca Koborie, 48, formerly of Sharon, and Ruth Ketler, 43, formerly of Grove City.
The only trace of the women found since the attack was Ketler's business identification card, pulled from the World Trade Center wreckage by a rescue worker shortly after the attack leveled the center's twin towers.
Parents' search: John and Julianne Koborie of Sharon went to New York on Sept. 15 to look for their daughter, hoping that perhaps she had been injured, rescued and unable to communicate with authorities.
"We had hope before we went," Julianne Koborie said.
They came back Sept. 20 empty-handed.
"We were hoping rumors of Jane and John Does might help. There weren't any at all," Julianne Koborie said.
They were never able to get closer than 10 blocks to the debris field, she said, adding, "We saw more on TV than we did there."
Rebecca worked on the 97th floor of the first tower hit by a hijacked airliner that plowed into an area between the 96th and 103rd floors, Julianne Koborie said.
Neither she nor the other 371 employees of Marsh Inc. Insurance Agencies working on several floors in that area survived, Julianne Koborie said.
Two memorial services have been scheduled for her, one at 3 p.m. Saturday at Cross of Glory Church in Aberdeen, N.J., where Rebecca had served as choir director.
"The whole family is going down for that," Julianne Koborie said.
The second is set for 3 p.m. Oct. 13 in Covenant Presbyterian Church here.
Another daughter lost: A memorial service for Ketler, who was on the top floor of the second tower hit by a hijacked airliner, is set for Oct. 13 in Ponte Verda, Fla., a suburb of Jacksonville, where her mother lives.
Her identification card, pulled from the rubble, "is all we have," said her aunt, Alice Ketler of Grove City.
Ruth's uncle, Keith Wellin, her mother's brother, also had an office on the same floor as Ruth, but he didn't go to work that day, Alice Ketler said.
"I'm glad he was saved for her mother's sake. She would have lost them both," Alice Ketler said.