Andrea Johnson/MDN A display sits outside the Ann Nicole Nelson Hall in Minot State University’s Old Main. The renovated auditorium was renamed in honor of Nelson, a victim of the 9/11 attacks who was originally from Stanley.

Ann Nicole Nelson, 30, from Stanley, who was a victim in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, is still remembered in North Dakota.

The renovated Ann Nicole Nelson Hall in Minot State University’s Old Main was renamed in her honor. In donating to the project, her parents, Gary and Jenette Nelson had recalled Ann’s high regard for education and the happy time she had spent attending the Campus School on the MSU campus as a child, when her mother took classes at the college. The Nelsons intended that all victims of the terrorist attacks, not just their daughter, would be honored with the auditorium and they expressed their hope that there would be peace in the world and that people would learn to resolve their differences peacefully. Gary Nelson passed away in 2019.

A display outside the auditorium remembers the terrible days after the 9/11 attacks, as loved ones searched and hoped for survivors, and honored the life of the adventurous Ann, a world traveler who had worked for Dain Rauscher in Minneapolis and later in Chicago before she took a new job as a bond broker for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center in January 2001, eight months before the attacks.

Annie’s House at the Bottineau Winter Park and an adaptive recreation program for people with disabilities, also honors Nelson. Annie’s House was completed in 2014 with the help of the New York Says Thank You Foundation. The inspiration for Annie’s House was Ann’s bucket list of things she wanted to accomplish that her parents found after her death, which included buying a home in North Dakota.