By:Angela Marshall
Reported loss from attacks reaches double digits
Because of a desire to not cause unnecessary alarm based on rumors, the Herald has limited the names of the community's missing to those it has confirmed. The list will be updated weekly until all those missing or confirmed lost have been reported.
No firm number has been placed on the extent of human loss the Rockville Centre community has suffered from the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. But clearly the number is large.
School officials had ascertained that at least 27 families within the district will never be the same again. Superintendent William Johnson said the number includes 16 families missing an immediate family member - mother, father, sister, brother, husband or wife - and 11 families who had lost a relation of another kind. The numbers do not include residents without children or who send their children to other schools.
RVC's high number of financial workers and city firemen has become a nightmare for a community now in mourning.
During an all-faith prayer service at St. Agnes Cathedral last Thursday, the more than 1,000 participants were asked to raise their hands if they had lost a loved one or acquaintance in the attack. It took a moment for the grief-stricken to respond, but slowly hands were lifted all over the church.
As rescue efforts continued Monday, community members known to have been in the vicinity of the Twin Towers were still considered missing, but there had been no rescues since Wednesday, the day after the attacks, and all survivors at area hospitals had been identified.
Among the missing is Edward Geraghty, a battalion captain in the New York City Fire Department, who rushed to the scene early the morning of Sept. 11, hoping to save others. Geraghty and his wife Mary have been longtime village residents. He has three children, Connor, James and Colin.
Andrew Rosenblum worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, a bond-trading business believed to have lost over 700 employees to the attack. His family held memorial services Sunday at Temple B'nai Sholom [See page 3].
John Sherry's parents placed a sign in Starbucks on Park Avenue asking for anyone with information about their son to call. Friends of Joe Hunter a firefighter from South Hempstead, did the same at two Park Avenue restaurants, Kasey's An American Grille and Max's Grill.
John Wright worked in the World Trade Center. His wife, Martha, and three children, one just a few weeks old, are still waiting for word.
Janice Ashley worked on the 93rd floor of the first building hit. She was a parishioner of St. Mark's United Methodist Church.
According to published reports, Kenneth Hatton's son Terry was also missing. Kenneth is a retired New York City fire chief and lives in Rockville Centre. Terry, captain of the city fire department's Rescue 1 squad, lived in Manhattan with his wife, Beth Petrone.
Also missing are Rockville Centre residents Steve Tighe and Rene Olsen.
