111528

Global Traveler

Yvonne Bonomo could not have taken more seriously the word "world" in World Trade Center. Not only was she a corporate travel booker for American Express, arranging last-minute global gallivants for executives at Marsh & McLennan on the 94th floor of 1 World Trade Center, but she also loved jetting around the world on the special corporate discounts offered to those in her job.

Only days before the disaster, she returned from Las Vegas, where she had attended a close friend's bridal shower. Although Yvonne was living at home in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her mother, Sonia, and father, John, "she was really very independent," said her cousin, Richie Fabrizi.

But Yvonne, 30, had contemplated sacrificing her cherished independence over the last year; she became engaged to her boyfriend, Anthony Vaccaro. "All we could tell him is that Yvonne's cellphone records show that she made a call to her mom at 8:51, after the plane hit," her cousin said. "That call never went through."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on September 20, 2001.