Middletown Hosts Its Own 9/11 Service Saturday

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Monmouth County is inviting all residents to join them on the waterfront on the night of Sept. 11 with candles or cell phones in hand, but Middletown will also hold its own memorial service earlier that day:

Middletown Township will host a memorial service this Saturday in honor of the 20th anniversary of the World Trade Center attack. All members of the community are invited to attend the ceremony that will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Middletown World Trade Center Memorial Gardens, located next to the Middletown Arts Center (36 Church Street).

The tribute will honor the 37 Middletown residents who lost their lives that day by bringing together family members and friends of the deceased, religious leaders, dignitaries, first responders and veterans. General parking will be available at the main lot at the Middletown Train Station. The tribute will be held rain or shine.

“As decades pass, we must continue to honor all the lives we lost to ensure that they will never be forgotten,” said Mayor Tony Perry. “We hope this 20th anniversary service will enable our community to reflect, remember, and bring a sense of peace and hope as we move forward together.”

Also: Meet At Belford Ferry Terminal To 'Light Up The Shore' On 9/11

To mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Middletown WTC Memorial Gardens Committee is also making improvements to the Gardens, which rest under a canopy of trees and feature a landscaped path with benches and a personalized memorial to honor each life. The Committee will be installing new landscaping, lighting, and a walkway of personalized bricks that lead to the memorial pathway. A first responder/military memorial is also being installed, as well as a memorial for those we lost due to 9/11-related illnesses, including the late Detective Lt. Joseph Capriotti.

Detective Lt. Capriotti was known as the “keeper of the list” of the friends and neighbors we lost. He personally notified every single Middletown family who had lost a loved one that day — something that was of utmost importance to him.

In addition to these touching memorials, the WTC Memorial Gardens Committee is raising funds for a fountain that will embrace visitors at the end of the memorial walkway. With both remnants from the original World Trade Center, and an inspirational poem embedded in the concrete path around it, “The Rise of Hope” fountain will serve as a reminder of our past as we look to the future.

“The community’s outpouring of support for our 9/11 20th anniversary fundraising campaign has been nothing short of amazing,” said WTC Memorial Gardens Committee Chairperson Patricia Snell. The Committee has sold almost 1,500 9/11 remembrance yard signs, hundreds of engraved bricks, and both families and businesses have purchased personalized street banners that will begin to line Kings Highway and Church Street leading up to the memorial ceremony.

Middletown residents who died in the Sept. 11 attacks and are honored at the Middletown WTC Memorial Gardens:

Lorraine D. Antigua
Jane S. Beatty
Donna Bernaerts-Kearns
Alfred J. Braca
Ronald M. Breitweiser
Patrick J. Buhse
Stephen J. Cangialosi
Swede Joseph Chevalier
Dolores Marie Costa
Edward Desimone III
Michael Egan
David Ferrugio
Daniel J. Gallagher
John M. Grazioso
Felicia Hamilton
Patrick A. Hoey
Kathleen A. Hunt Casey
Brendan Mark Lang
Roseanne P. Lang
Anna A. Laverty
Michael Patrick McDonnell
Peter T. Milano
Louis J. Minervino
Justin John Molisani, Jr.
James Thomas Murphy
Christopher Newton-Carter
Paul R. Nimbley
Robert Emmett Parks, Jr.
Nicholas P. Pietrunti
John M. Pocher
Beth Ann Quigley
Gregg Reidy
Robert Andrew Spencer
Dick Stadelberger
Kenneth Tietjen
Anthony Ventura
Rodney James Wotton

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