Oleh D. Wengerchuk

Soul Mates From Age 2
Oleh Wengerchuk and his wife, Oksana, met as children, when their families were interred at a German displacement camp when they were toddlers. Their families were Ukrainian. "I don't remember him from that time," Mrs. Wengerchuk said. "My mother used to tell me that we would play together all the time, he and his brother and I. We were like the three musketeers. We were only 2 or 3 years old."

Through the years, and in the turmoil after the war, the two families kept in touch. Hers ended up in South Bend, Ind., while his immigrated to New York a year later. When her father died, her family moved to Trenton, N.J., and they visited the Wengerchuks. Oleh Wengerchuk was in the Army. "We fell in love, which wasn't planned," Mrs. Wengerchuk said. "We had a long history. We were like soul mates."

Fast-forward to the year 2001. He was a transportation designer for the Washington Group International, with an office on the 91st floor of 2 World Trade Center. The couple had a nice home in Centerpoint, N.Y., on Long Island. They loved to entertain.

One of Mr. Wengerchuk's passions was going sailing with his brother. The Wengerchuks had a daughter, Andrea, who is 23, and just out of college. She had come home to live with her parents again; father and daughter were forging an adult friendship.

The weekend before Sept. 11, the couple had friends over for dinner. At the end, as they sat in the twilight, Mr. Wengerchuk, 56, took his wife's hand and kissed it, as he often did after these nights of wine and good conversation. "He told me, 'I just want you to know how much I appreciate everything you do for me. If one of us has to go first, I hope it's me because I can't imagine life without you.' "