Though thousands are presumed dead in the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil, the first Tristate family got that heart-wrenching confirmation Thursday.

Cherry

        The body of Doug Cherry, who grew up in Terrace Park, was found Thursday near the entrance of the World Trade Center.

        In an e-mail, a friend of the family said evidence suggests Mr. Cherry was not caught in the fire but died instantly. He worked on the 91st floor.

        His family does not want to talk to the media, according to a spokesman at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park, where Mr. Cherry was confirmed years ago.

        But theirs is not the only Tristate family dealing with loss and uncertainty. At least six others have relatives who are either dead or still missing from Tuesday's attack, in which two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers.

        For days, the Reszke family of Liberty Township clung to hope that they now realize no longer exists.

Reszke

        Their sister-in-law and aunt, Martha Reszke, 56, was working as an accountant in the first-floor finance department of the Pentagon Tuesday, directly below where a hijacked jet crashed.

        “No, no hope,” John Reszke said Thursday from his brother James' suburban Virginia home. “None whatsoever.”

        Like many families, the Reszkes could only watch in stunned silence as one TV broadcast of the World Trade Center tragedy blurred into the next.

        Then, the Pentagon was hit.

        “The next thing I know,” Mrs. Reszke's 24-year-old niece, Melissa Reszke of Liberty Township, recalled, “Mom and Dad are screaming. But we didn't know where (her aunt) was.”

        Melissa Reszke's parents, John and Paulette, drove to the home of Mr. Reszke's brother outside Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Melissa Reszke and her 18-year-old, brother John expect to leave today on the nine-hour drive.

        Four bodies have been recovered from the area where Martha Reszke's office used to be. None has been identified, Mr. Reszke said.

        “Just ask Cincinnati to try to put an end to racism and prejudice and pray for peace,” the elder John Reszke said in words that started strong like the military man he once was, then faded with emotion.

        James Reszke is a retired Army master sergeant who met Martha while both worked at the Pentagon. They have no children. Martha, a travel enthusiast and dog-lover, has two grown children from a previous marriage.

        She was here for the last time in the spring, for 18-year-old John Reszke's graduation from Lakota West High School.

        As Melissa Reszke looked over family photos on the family's kitchen table, MTV broke into a news update on the living-• room television.

        “Sometimes I watch,” she said. “Sometimes I can't. I just wanna cry and be angry.”

        She's not alone.

        • Florence Deatherage left Northern Kentucky early Thursday in a waiting rental car American Airlines provided for her. Because airlines were still not in the air, it was the only way she could get to Boston.

        Boston is where her son, John Jenkins, 44, boarded Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center. The Erlanger native lived in Kentucky until about age 13.

        “I thought he was supposed to leave the following Tuesday,” said Mr. Jenkins' stepfather, Ray Deatherage. “I told (my wife) of the two flights out of Boston and she started worrying.

        “American Airlines is going out of their way. They had a rental car waiting her her this morning.”

Booms

        • Also on Flight 11 was Kelly A. Booms, a Blue Ash native and Miami University graduate. She worked for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Boston.

        • Robert Gould, 31, has been waiting to find out whether his missing brother will be found alive.

        “If he was there, he was on the 104th floor,” Mr. Gould said of his brother, 29-year-old Michael Gould.

        The two are Newport, R.I., natives but Robert Gould has been working for Procter & Gamble in the information-technology department for six years.

        Robert Gould talked about his only brother, who was single, loved his job as a trader with a Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage firm, collected guitars and loved to work out.

Faulkner

Williams

        “We haven't heard anything yet,” Robert Gould said. “We had tried to call a couple of the hot lines and put our names in. I'm driving to Rhode Island tomorrow.”

        • Brian Williams, 29, formerly of Edgewood, is also missing. He also worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was a Covington Catholic High School graduate.

        Wendy Faulkner, 47, a vice president for systems at Aon Corp., aa risk-management company and insurance brokerage, is missing. She worked on the 104th floor of Tower Two.

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