Arcelia Castillo

Arcelia Castillo, 49, a voracious mind

Having gone as far as the fifth grade in her native Colombia, one of the first things Arcelia Castillo did when she arrived in the United States in 1973 was enroll in school.

First it was to learn English. Then it was to learn anything she could. When she was a student at the Union Technical Institute in Union Township as a younger woman, she worked every Saturday in an accounting office for free just to learn the business.

On Sept. 11, Mrs. Castillo wouldn't have been due in her office on the 98th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower for another 12 minutes when a hijacked plane hit the building at 8:48 a.m.

But expecting to earn her associate's degree in accounting at the end of this semester, the 49-year-old mother and grandmother started work at 7:45 a.m. at the insurance firm of Marsh & McLennen so she could leave early to attend classes at Union County College in her hometown of Elizabeth, her family said.

"Education was definitely a hallmark for her," said her older son, Silvio Alex Roman of Budd Lake.

She also was big into exercise. On any given Saturday, Mrs. Castillo could be found jogging in Warinanco Park in Roselle. She would always walk down 54 flights of stairs from her office to the cafeteria in the North Tower.

But her big love were her four grandchildren, Brittany, 11; Breanna, 6; Bianca, 4, and Brandon, 2, the children of Roman and his wife, Loraine.

Roman said that because his mother worked two jobs to support him and his younger brother, Anthony of New York City, when they were growing up, Mrs. Castillo wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren. She took Brittany to Walt Disney World about three years ago, and this year she promised to take Breanna.

"My mother was strong. When I grew up, I never saw my mom cry," Roman said.

Besides her two sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, Mrs. Castillo is survived by her companion, Ed Skrypa of Clifton.

Profile by MaryAnn Spoto published in THE STAR-LEDGER.


A Marine's Mother and Hero
Marine Corps boot camp was an easy fit for Anthony Roman. He had already been trained by a tough, stubborn disciplinarian whom he nicknamed the Colombian Drill Instructor: his mother, Arcelia Castillo. At home in Elizabeth, N.J., Ms. Castillo, a single mother always juggling two jobs and night school, enforced strict curfews and did not tolerate back talk or wasting money. If Anthony or his brother, Alex, broke rules, Ms. Castillo, scarcely five feet tall, would reach for her belt.

The eldest of 11, Ms. Castillo, 49, had immigrated to the United States at 20, penniless, speaking no English and with only an elementary school education. But by Sept. 11, 2001, she was a homeowner and landlady, an American citizen, a junior accountant at Marsh & McLennan and a few credits shy of her associate's degree from Union County College. She had a companion of 14 years, Edward Skrypa, whom she wouldn't marry because she preferred independence. Ms. Castillo, who was called Chela, had four grandchildren, whom she uncharacteristically spoiled with presents. "We loved to tease her that she was just trying to get to heaven," said Sergeant Roman, a Marine Corps reservist. She kept all his letters, including the one where he told her she was his hero.