How a Freeport 9/11 memorial came to be

It restored comfort to a host of families who put their names on our memorials. Everybody got a lantern.”

Kathleen Monestere

Leading the 9/11 ceremony: In Alma Rocha’s own words

I am a Freeport resident since 1990, and I work in the public schools as an administrator. When Ms. [Kathleen] Monestere moved away from Freeport in 2004, I took over what she had started in 2001. There is not an organization; we are a community who suffered the loss of residents, and we get together every year to support one another and never forget

It is an incredible honor to be able to speak in front of my neighbors. Having the response of the Freeport Fire Department is the greatest gift of all. They lost brothers, and they are always there to support the families of the ones we lost.

We kept the candles after Ms. Monastere moved, but it was not only me. We were several families who kept the candles lit every night. After the shelter was built, we continued lighting the candles until prior to the 10th anniversary when we, as a community, supported the project of the Lighthouse with the paramount support of a couple of organizations that donated time and money to build it.

On Sept. 18, 2001, Phyllis Held placed a flyer in the mailboxes of our neighborhood. She wanted us to gather at the traffic circle at Bayview Avenue and Ray Street.

We came. There was nothing really planned. It was only a week after 9/11, so there was lots of confusion.

We held hands and sang patriotic songs. We prayed for the families and friends of those whom we heard had lost their lives. An off-duty Freeport police officer brought a recording of Whitney Houston singing “The Star-Spangled Banner'' and blasted it from his car. We lit candles.

The next evening, some of us returned to light the candles. And so it began, the 9/11 neighborhood memorial. Children left toys and stuffed animals. Families left pictures and mementos. Fire engine companies in Freeport sent donations, and I went to IKEA and bought the enclosed lanterns to put the candles in.

Neighbors would stop by and share a story and leave a box of candles or a donation. Some families brought news articles to the memorial, but we had no place to display them.

So, in November 2001, two firemen from Bayview Avenue Hose 3 built us a very rough shelter. It was at least a place to display what families brought — stuffed animals, a picture of Richie Muldowney, of Tim Higgins (who both died in the towers). I put the articles and the pictures in Ziploc bags and changed the bags from time to time.

During the winter, my neighbors and I got up there at about 5 or 6 p.m., and the candles might stay lit until 10 at night. Often, people who were not even from Freeport would stop by and tell stories of family members or friends who died on 9/11. It restored comfort to a host of families who put their names on our memorials. Everybody got a lantern.

The teenagers would be coming home from school, especially right after the attacks, and would talk about it. We experienced wonderful communication with 14-through-18-year-old kids, who were standing there with men and women their grandparents’ age, and out of something horrible came some meaningful times.

The memorial was never defaced at all — ever. There was a baseball left by the Garcia family because David Garcia, one of our fallen firefighters, had been a Little League coach. The baseball was never stolen. That memorial has always been respected by everybody.

I moved to North Carolina in 2004. From 2004 to 2010, a whole group of people kept lighting the candles in all seasons and all weather.

The first wooden structure was put together very quickly of scrap wood. It was not a pretty structure, but it served its purpose and we appreciated it. Later, the village built one that was more sturdy, which was still there when we dedicated the Lighthouse, like passing the torch. Now the shelter is at the Freeport Historical Museum.

To the candle lighters, I was proud to have been one of you, lighting candles in all kinds of weather.Each of us had our own special way of lighting the candle, possibly saying the loved ones’ names and a prayer. So it seems fitting that the permanent 9/11 neighborhood memorial should be a lighthouse, a beacon of light leading our heroes home.

It was my honor to serve them. This memorial will always be in my heart.