By Jennifer La Lima
and Hector Flores
It was an especially poignant moment in a solemn ceremony held by the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce to unveil a monument honoring the Bellmores¹ 11 terror victims. A garden full of colorful flowers surrounds the monument.
The family of fallen New York city firefighter Manuel Mojica sat quietly at the front of the gathering ‹ Mojica¹s widow, Anna, and their children, 12-year-old Stephanie and 9-year-old Manny. ³Sometimes [a ceremony] can really just get into everything all over again, which just brings you back. It can be hard,² said Anna. ³But this was good ‹ it was done appropriately, and it¹s a great spot. Manuel would enjoy it. He loved children, and he loved reading to them.²
American Airlines Capt. John Ogonowski piloted Flight 11, one of the two jetliners that terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center. He had married Margaret LaValle, who was raised in Bellmore. The couple were wed at St. Barnabas Roman Catholic Church in Bellmore and made their life in Dracut, Mass., where they raised three daughters.
Margaret¹s parents, William and Elizabeth LaValle, who still live in Bellmore, attended the chamber¹s dedication ceremony.
³My husband was a true country type; he was not fond of going into the city,² Margaret said. ³My husband loved and cared for his farm. We¹ve lived there for so long, I feel a sort of disconnect to New York. Still, it¹s lovely to have his name on a memorial in the town I grew up in.²
Marilyn Weinberg of North Bellmore lost her son, Kevin, in the attacks. ³Everyone lost a lot that day, and I like to know that the community remembers my son,² she said.
The Weinbergs have lived in North Bellmore for 47 years. Kevin¹s father, Len, said his son worked for Thomson Financial at the World Trade Center. Kevin, who was 41 when he died, had attended Jacob Gunther Elementary, Jerusalem Avenue Middle School, Mepham High and Syracuse University.
Marian Prior is the mother of Kevin Prior, a New York City firefighter and Bellmore fire volunteer who died while trying to save others on Sept. 11. Marian described the new memorial garden as ³just beautiful.²
Carol Guilfoyle, Prior¹s aunt, added that it¹s still difficult to deal with her nephew¹s death. ³Sometimes it feels like it happened yesterday, and sometimes it feels like 100 years ago,² she said. ³When I think back to that day, I think of the day that the world changed.²
The garden, which is 20 feet in diameter, is in the patio area, on the east side of the North Bellmore Library, at 1551 Newbridge Road in North Bellmore. It consists of mum flowers, cabbage heads and benches that form a semicircle around the monument. A boulder inscribed with the names of the North Bellmore and Bellmore residents whose lives were lost Sept. 11 serves as its centerpiece.
To the right of the stone, a second stone is dedicated to the New York City emergency personnel who died. To the left, a third stone is dedicated to the everyday New Yorkers who went to work but never came home that day. Behind the center stone is a steel plate retrieved from the World Trade Center.
Joni Caputo, the Bellmore chamber executive director, said that the organization had in mind a peaceful garden where family members could sit and remember their loved ones.
Bob Schade, chairman of the chamber¹s Memorial Committee, said that for two years the committee worked diligently on the design, funding and construction of the garden. In the end, the project cost reached about $20,000, and there is still more work to be done. The committee would like to plant perennials and finalize a maintenance plan for future upkeep of the garden.
Schade calls the memorial site ³the finest symbol of community service any individual or organization can accomplish.² He defines community spirit as the way Bellmore citizens and members of the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores worked together in partnership to benefit all. ³Perhaps many years from now, as people stroll past our garden or rest awhile on one of its benches, they will not forget this senseless tragedy,² said Schade.
Funds for the project were provided by a grant from New York state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., the North Bellmore Library, the North Bellmore School District and local residents who purchased the individual bricks that make up the walkway framing the garden.
The chamber has sold 106 bricks, which families have inscribed in memory of their loved ones. They sell for $75, and can be inscribed with up to three lines of 20 characters each. Merrick resident Barry Kogan had the names of his late parents and grandmother inscribed. Kogan¹s sister, Denise, joined him at the service to pay their respects to the Sept. 11 victims and to see their inscriptions for the first time.
³Four years have gone by, but I look at the garden and, in a word, it¹s beautiful,² said Fuschillo. ³We are here honoring those who were taken from us on that day.²
