How Philadelphia mother is keeping Kenny Caldwell and other 9/11 victims' legacies alive

Elsie Goss-Caldwell is keeping memories alive.

"I can tell them a little bit of history," Goss-Caldwell said, standing in front of a mural on the side of her business at 56th and Thompson streets in West Philadelphia. She knows a little something about every person in the mural.

"Budda was a twin," she said with a smile. "Bobby, his dad is so funny."

At the center of the mural is the center of her world.

The mural reads, "Kenneth Marcus Caldwell, Feb. 8, 1971-Sept. 11, 2001. We love you, Kenny Wenny. The memory of your smile continues to warm our hearts."

Kenny Wenny?

"That's his nickname," Goss-Caldwell said. "My little chocolate drop."

That's Goss-Caldwell's son, Kenneth Marcus Caldwell.

"You know you're going to lose somebody, but you never thought you would lose someone like that," Goss-Caldwell said.

The calendar on the wall of her office remains open to September 2001. That fateful Tuesday when she lost her world is circled in red.

"He said, 'I just wanted to let you know that I love you.' So I was like, 'Oh, OK,' but 'I gotta get out of here because there's a bomb,'" Goss-Caldwell said.

Kenny Caldwell was 30-years-old, living in Brooklyn Heights, working at Alliance Consulting Group on the 102nd floor of the North Tower when the planes hit the World Trade Center.

"We never found him," Goss-Caldwell said. "We never had that full closure."

That's the hardest part, Goss-Caldwell said. What's in her office is all she has left.

"He's not just a name," Goss-Caldwell said. "You see, with this here, then people can see who he is and a face."

It's that legacy Goss-Caldwell's continued, including through scholarships in Caldwell's name, and the annual Run for Peace at Penn Charter, his alma mater.

"I know that he's probably looking down and saying, 'OK, Mom, you can help people, so help them," Goss-Caldwell said.

Twenty-five years later, Goss-Caldwell is going back to Ground Zero.

"Years ago, I asked God, just let me be around when it's the 25th and to remember him, and I want to go back to the museum," Goss-Caldwell said.

For anyone who walks by the mural in West Philadelphia, Goss-Caldwell said, "I can't take them all to New York and take them to the museum or all that, but they can focus on these loved ones and that's what's important — to keep all of their memories alive."

That means this mural is forever immortalized.

"I've told my children they can't sell this building after I'm gone, can make sure this is never torn down," Goss-Caldwell said.

So people never forget.