Sept. 11 Victim Helped Poor on the Sly

N E W  Y O R K, Dec. 24 -- Brendan Ryan and Kristy Irvine seemed to have a fairy tale life in the making.

Soul mates since the age of 12, they had literally grown up together in Huntington, Long Island. Somehow they knew even at a young age that they were meant for each other. Ryan, 30, remembers admiring Irvine even when he was just a boy.

"Her beauty her serenity, the way that the shoe just fit the foot," Ryan said.In high school, Kristy's older sister saw something between the two after their prom.

"I thought, 'Wow what a gorgeous couple' ... it just took my breath away," her sister, Kerry Irvine told Good Morning America.

A Love Story

In high school, Ryan and Irvine stuck to being just friends, with sort of a "Sam and Diane from Cheers relationship," Ryan said.

In college, though, Irvine used to say "I'm going to marry Brendan Ryan," her friend Meredith O'Neal Hassett said. "And I was like 'but you're not even dating him.' She was like 'I just know ... I know I am'."

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She was right. When it was time to begin adult life, Ryan and Irvine both realized that they should be together. Last June, they got married in storybook fashion. Hassett recalls that when the wrong flowers arrived on her wedding day, Irvine was characteristically gracious about the mistake.

"She was like 'oh well, I like these ones better'," Hassett said. "And what bride could really be like that?"

Tragedy Strikes Happy Couple

The couple's happily ever after lasted only three months and one day. Kristy Irvine Ryan worked as an equities trader with Sandler O'Neill & Partners on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center.

Chris Francescani, a Good Morning America producer and friend of the couple, said it is hard to watch his friend Ryan suffer.

"It's devastating to watch someone you know so well hurt so much and carry such a heavy burden," he said. "He loves Kristy. He absolutely loves Kristy ... maybe now more than ever."

On the morning of Sept. 11, Kristy called her husband and said that the fire from the first tower was contained and her building, tower two, was safe. When the second plane hit, they were still on the phone.