By Anthony Rifilato
The Town of Hempstead held its memorial at a town park. Because of the bad weather, the ceremony was moved from Point Lookout, where it is usually held, to Lido Beach, where clergy and families of the victims reflected and offered unique perspectives on the tragedy six years later.
"Six years have passed since the darkest moment in our nation's history and still, our neighbors and friends come together to offer one another support and solace," Town Supervisor Kate Murray said.
The memorial featured glass-like replicas of the twin towers, with water cascading into a reflecting pool. A silent vigil was held on the beach, where families and friends tossed long-stemmed white carnations into the water, to honor those who were lost.
Clergy members at the service included the Rev. Eric Mallette, pastor of the Greater Second Baptist Church of Freeport, Rabbi Yossi Lieberman of the Chabad of West Hempstead and the Rev. Gregory Cappuccino of St. Francis DeChantal R.C. Church in Wantagh.
Among those who spoke was Baldwin native Patricia Nitti, who lost her brother, Brian McAleese, a firefighter from Baldwin, on 9/11. McAleese was a member of the New York City Fire Department's Engine 226 in Brooklyn.
The beach memorial was fitting, Nitti said, since it was the last place she and her brother spent a day together with their families, just two days before the attacks.
"It is so fitting to remember him here because this is the last place we were together," Nitti told those at the memorial. "And Brian loved the beach."
Nitti recalled the image of Brian playing and spending time with his four young children that day, saying that he was "a brother with a big heart, a husband devoted, a friend to rely on, a fellow firefighter who always had your back, and always someone to laugh with.
"I miss his company, his laugh that turned into a crazy giggle, how he loved a party, the goodness he saw in everyone, the way he completed our family," she said. "I could speak endlessly of Brian. He was that 'good guy.' He did the right thing even when no one was looking. A son to be proud of, stopping by at night to lift our dad into bed, as he suffered from multiple sclerosis."
"I look out at your faces and I know that you too have lost your Brian, that integral part of your family who cannot be replaced. We mourn together. I have gotten to know you, and through you I know the person you have lost."
Photos by Frank Koester/Herald
