Remembrance

On Sunday, with  another anniversary of World Trade Center events fresh on my mind, I visited the 911 Memorial in my town.   I live in Wayne, NJ, and like many many neighborhoods and towns in the Greater New York area we were touched very directly by the tragedy thirteen years ago.

Remembrance Plaza

We created a sad memorial next to our library called Remembrance Plaza.  I'm sure there are many similar places throughout the area.  Sunday was a sunny day and the spot is partially shaded by some old trees.  There are nine stone markers that form a ring around two large shapes that evoke the twin towers.  The markers look and feel like headstones in a cemetery.  Neighbors had placed flowers beside the markers and small stones on top.

Seven of the markers have laser portraits of the people we lost.  I had only a slightest connection to any of the Wayne residents who died that day.  One was my friend Frank's cousin, a guy I never met.  But the fact that they were neighbors made the whole thing all the more real.

The people in my town that died in the World Trade Center were:

• Leo Roberts
• Barry Glick
• Greg John Froehner
• Robert J Deraney
• Jean Caviasco DePalma
• Daniel T. Afflitto
• Paul Acquaviva

As I sketched, I thought about what we all lost on that day.