Blanca Morocho

Bringing a Family Together

About a year ago, Leonel Morocho, a sous chef at Windows on the World, got an offer he almost could not refuse: more money and a less stressful job at a top hotel.

He ended up refusing, though, because Mr. Morocho, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, was using his job at Windows to legalize his status in the United States. If he changed employers, he would have to persuade a new employer to petition the government on his behalf, delaying his dream of bringing his two older daughters, ages 12 and 14, from Ecuador.

So he stayed, working the early shift so he could be home when his younger daughters, 8, 7 and 5, came home from school.

"At home, he was the father and the mother," said his wife of 15 years, Marta Morocho, 33. "I basically followed him around, watching what he did. He took the girls to the park, did the grocery shopping."

Mr. Morocho's sister, Blanca, died with him. He had helped bring her to the United States five years ago and had found her a job preparing salads at Windows. She was married and had one daughter, Catherine Victoria, who was 8 months old when her mother died.

The Morochos were close. On July 7, Blanca Morocho helped her sister-in-law prepare a surprise party for her brother, who turned 36. The day the towers fell was Mr. Morocho's first day at work after a two-week vacation, which he used to work as a cook for the United States Open. As always, he was saving money to bring his daughters to the United States.

Eight days after his death, his dream became a reality. The girls arrived with a humanitarian visa. They are with their mother now, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

"It cost him his life," Mrs. Morocho said. "But he brought them to me."