Edna Cintrón, a 46-year-old administrative assistant at insurance firm Marsh & McLennan, became known as the 'waving woman' after she was filmed gesturing for help from the edge of the flaming hole left by United Airlines Flight 175 in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. She waved for approximately 20 minutes before the impact site collapsed at 10:28am, making her one of the nearly 3,000 people who died that day.
A life away from the spotlight
Edna and her husband, William, who was 44 at the time, led a quiet life in East Elmhurst, Queens. They preferred Atlantic City casino buffets to the martinis and Broadway shows associated with New York City, collected porcelain angel figurines, and enjoyed ice cream on the sofa. William described her as his 'backbone' who 'made me strong' and 'made me who I am today.'
Edna was born in Puerto Rico on October 14, 1954, and moved to Delancey Street in Lower Manhattan at age five. Her family was not wealthy, and she received only a few cents a week as pocket money. She did not graduate from high school, and William noted she 'experienced a lot of stuff.'
Meeting and building a life together
Edna met William in 1987 when he walked into her kitchen in Upper Manhattan while she was chatting with a friend. He recalled, 'I was charming at that time; I wore cashmere.' The couple jointly owned a Harlem flower shop called Sweet William's Florist. They experienced a period of homelessness, and Edna supported William through his recovery from alcoholism, according to her obituary. He stayed sober with her help, saying, 'Fourteen years with her, that was my life, my world. I knew when I went home I was in the best of hands, loved, cared for.'
The day of the attack and its aftermath
On September 11, 2001, Flight 175 crashed into the North Tower, tearing through the 93rd and 99th floors. Marsh & McLennan's offices were on the 93rd floor, and the impact destroyed all escape routes. New Yorkers below photographed and filmed Edna standing near another man, both waving through the hole. After the collapse, William wandered Manhattan carrying her photograph, asking if anyone had seen her. He tried St Vincent's hospital but found no record, and was turned away at the disaster site, told 'we'd interfere' and 'can't just be in the way,' as he told The Independent at the time.
By September 12, he was at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue to file a missing person's report. Edna's body was never recovered, although William 'tentatively identified' her as the waving woman in video footage, according to a memorial page. Her gold engagement ring was found in the rubble and donated to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.
Remembering Edna and her legacy
William remembered Edna not as the 'waving woman' but as a 'strong' person who always had dinner ready when he came home. He died on September 24, 2021, in Kissimmee, Florida, at age 64. Marsh & McLennan told Metro that it hosted a public, digital memorial honouring the 358 workers and friends who died on 9/11. One friend wrote on a tribute page: 'I will never forget when I first saw Edna. An amazing woman who should never be forgotten or ignored.'
