The names have remained. The memories have remained. And 25 years later, so has the promise that we will never forget.
A large crowd gathered at Rockville Centre’s Village Green on Maple Avenue to remember the 57 residents lost on and as a result of Sept. 11, 2001, as the community confronted a day that, for many families, still does not feel like history.
“It is hard to believe that a quarter of a century has passed since the morning that changed our nation forever,” Mayor Francis X. Murray said. “And yet, for some families, it does feel like 25 years.”
Murray said the passage of time has not diminished the loss carried by families who lost loved ones that day or in the years that followed because of illnesses connected to the attacks.
“We know that grief does not have an expiration date,” Murray said. “You carry your loss not only on anniversaries like this, but in the ordinary moments of everyday life.”
For Patrick O’Brien, the village’s superintendent of buildings, the loss remains deeply personal. O’Brien remembered his brother, Timothy O’Brien, and his brother-in-law, Stephen Tighe, who were among those lost on Sept. 11.
“Because we remember far more than how they died, we remember how they lived,” O’Brien said. “Their voices, their laughter, family gatherings and holidays, conversations and ordinary moments that we never realized would someday become so precious.
“Behind the number of people lost on September 11 were individual lives,” he added. “Each person had a name, a family, loved ones, and plans for the future. And each left an empty chair that could never be filled.”
The ceremony also remembered those whose lives were cut short by illnesses connected to the attacks.
Barton Slavin spoke about his brother, NYPD Lt. Zachary Slavin, who became ill after working at Ground Zero and died in 2022.
“I lost my brother, NYPD Lieutenant Zachary Slavin, because he had worked at Ground Zero and became ill from exposure to toxins,” Slavin said. “And after over 90 chemo treatments, he finally succumbed.”
Slavin said that, despite the passage of time, memories of his brother remain woven into everyday life.
“I value the times I could speak with my brother, even when he was ill, and laughed at his wife, their daughter, and their children,” he said. “And all of these things that we will now take for granted, they really are a gift.”
Slavin then recited the “Litany of Remembrance,” concluding with its reflection on keeping loved ones alive through memory.
“So, as long as we live, they too shall live,” he said. “For they are now, and they have been always, a part of us, as we remember them.”
Both O’Brien and Murray spoke about the importance of passing those memories to a generation that did not experience Sept. 11 firsthand.
“To the young people here who were not yet born in 2001, we ask this of you,” O’Brien said. “Learn their names. Listen to their families. Learn not only what happened that day, but who these people were.”
Murray similarly urged the community to remember the lives behind the names.
“They had dreams. They had plans. They had people who loved them. And they mattered,” Murray said. “They still matter.”
The evening carried both solemnity and warmth. Frank Colon, commander of American Legion Post 303, performed “Taps,” providing an emotional tribute to those who were lost.
But the ceremony did not end in silence.
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Peter Garrity and Tom McNicholas followed with a duo guitar performance of “America the Beautiful,” leading the crowd in a sing-along that provided a fitting, heartfelt conclusion to an evening centered on remembrance, community and the enduring promise not to forget.
“25 years later, our message remains strong as ever,” Murray said. “We will never forget. We will always remember. And our light will never, ever go out.”
