The city has planted a tree at city hall honoring a native killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The city has planted a tree at city hall honoring a native killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Rebecca Koborie was to be in Sharon this week, coming back from her home in Guttenburg, N.J., Wednesday to visit her mother and father at their Trumbull Drive home.
But those plans were made about two weeks before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Sept. 11.
Rebecca Koborie never made it home.
She was believed to be killed when an airliner hijacked by terrorists plowed into the trade center's North Tower about where she worked on the 97th floor.
No trace of her has been found.
So, instead of a family gathering at home, members of John and Julianne Koborie's family gathered with Sharon city officials and employees on the front lawn of the municipal building Friday to remember Rebecca.
The city has planted a tree there in her memory.
Her favorite color was pink, and Mayor Robert T. Price said he selected a pink flowering crab apple tree.
Fire Chief Arthur Scarmack crafted a plaque dedicating the tree in Rebecca's honor. It will be placed permanently in front of the tree.
Engraved in its upper right corner is a small, single pink rose.
Rebecca, 48, moved from Sharon nearly three decades ago, living in New York City and later moving to New Jersey, but she always loved coming back to Sharon, her father said.
Her loss is a heavy burden for the family but remembrances like the one Friday are helping them get through it, he said, thanking those who came to pay tribute to her.
"She was a wonderful person and a wonderful daughter," Koborie said.
She was their oldest child and, when she would visit, she would just sit down at the family piano and "play and play," Koborie said, adding that is his fondest memory of her.
"We will remember her in our hearts as a warm and loving person," he said.
Koborie likened her death to the story in the Bible that says people were taken straight up to heaven and never seen again. They just vanished.
That's how he sees what happened to Rebecca, he said.
Price said he only met Rebecca twice but remembered her as " a warm, friendly person." The first thing you noticed about her was her smile, he said.
John and Julianne Koborie were joined at the dedication by their son, Jay of Sharon, Mrs. Koborie's brother, Mike Yendrek of California, and her uncle, George Yendrek of Brookfield.
A reception in the city hall lobby followed the ceremony.
gwin@vindy.com