9/11 Victims Remembered at Clarkstown Ceremony

A late afternoon rainstorm did nothing to deter more than 70 people from gathering at Clarkstown Town Hall in New City Monday to commemorate the victims and the families of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander Gromack said a couple of years ago rain threatened the outdoor ceremony. Town officials briefly considered moving it inside.

"The families wouldn't hear of it," he said.

As master of ceremonies, the Rev. David Lothrop of South Nyack, the Clarkstown Police Department chaplain, said the lives of all Americans were turned upside down nine years ago.

"We know that our loved ones we lost that day are looking down on us," he said.

After the Pledge of Allegiance and "The Star-Spangled Banner," sung by the Hudson Voices of the Rockland County Choral Society, Gromack said that nothing anyone could say or do could replace those lost on 9/11.

"Why are we here?" he said. "Our individual lives are shaped by the memories of those who have gone before us."

That, Gromack said, is "the glue that binds us all together."

In the immediate wake of the attacks, Gromack said Americans stood strong.

"It was not us who ran and hid," he said, "like so many snakes under rocks."

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said the soaring images and vivid memories of that day have not left us.

"So we mourn and we celebrate that the U.S. is made stronger by this horrid day," he said.

New City resident Marge Hook said it was very important to attend the ceremony.

"We must never forget," she said.

Hook was glued to the television Saturday for the coverage of the commemoration held at the site of the former World Trade Center.

"I cried all day," she said, adding she only knew two people who were killed that September morning.

"Thank goodness no family," Hook said.