By Dana Williams
Malverne’s deputy mayor, James Callahan, said that the crowd at the village’s Sept. 11 remembrance honored the community, because after seven years, he feared that people would forget that tragic day. “My concern is always that we will forget,” Callahan told more than 300 people gathered in Chester A. Reese Veterans Memorial Park. “But I think that this year shows that even seven years later, we have not forgotten.”
Once again, the village honored residents Scott Bart, Jacqueline Donovan, James Haran and Diane Urban, who died on 9/11. Mayor Patricia Ann McDonald said she believes Sept. 11 should be a national day of mourning. “It is something that should never be forgotten,” McDonald told the crowd. “The victims, their families ... should never be forgotten.”
Family members of the victims laid roses on the memorial plaque that bears their loved ones’ names. The ceremony concluded with a prayer and the singing of “God Bless America.”
Nearby, in West Hempstead’s Hall’s Pond Park, the West Hempstead Kiwanis Club held a commemorative ceremony in which more than 50 people lit candles in remembrance of the 12 residents who were killed on 9/11. “We gather each year as a community on September 11 to remember those who died, their families and just to take time out to remember how fragile life is,” said Andy Thaw, an organizer of the ceremony. “We consider ourselves a close-knit community here in West Hempstead, and this is our way of making sure that the victims are never forgotten.”
Led by members of Auxiliary Police Unit No. 116, residents walked to the park’s Sept. 11 memorial site to read the names of the victims aloud and place roses under the memorial plaque that lists their names. This ceremony, too, concluded with residents singing “God Bless America.”
Despite the years that have passed, many residents said, it is imperative that people commemorate the day. “We had residents in West Hempstead who lost their lives and I had 37 co-workers who died on 9/11, so having this ceremony tonight is important because they should always be remembered,” explained Scott Jablow, president of the Cathedral Gardens Civic Association. “Their memory and the memory of other victims should always be honored.”
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