9/11 Memorial Service Takes Place In Riverhead

RIVERHEAD, NY — Once again, the Riverhead community will come together on 9/11 to stand strong and pay tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11.

At 6 p.m., an annual procession at Reeves Park, hosted by the Sound Park Heights Civic Association, will begin at Marine Street and head to the 9/11 memorial park on Sound Avenue and Thomas Kelly Memorial Drive/Park Road.

The long-awaited dream of a memorial park on Sound Avenue to honor those lost on 9/11 — as well as first responders who have become ill since — was first realized in 2013, a project of the heart for Bob Kelly, whose brother Thomas Kelly, who lived in Riverhead full-time, was one of seven members of Engine 219, Ladder 105 that died during the terrorist attacks. He was 38 years old.

His family has roots deeply entrenched in the Reeves Park community in Riverhead.

"This is home," said Bob Kelly, as he spoke to the friends and neighbors gathered in remembrance at a the first 9/11 ceremony held at the memorial park. "All of Tommy's best days were spent here."

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Looking at the friends who stood somberly on the darkening street, Kelly said quietly, "Reeves Park has not forgotten."

Eric Biegler, president of Sound Park Heights Civic Association, has said the memorial park was a journey that took more than 10 years and involved the diligent efforts of the Riverhead Town board, as well as community members and civic groups.

The county acquisition of the 4.1 acre parcel, located at the corner of Sound Avenue and Thomas Kelly Memorial Drive/Park Road, was a long-sought-after goal.

"There's a true sense of peace," Kelly said. The goal, he said, was to create "a peaceful place for reflection, meditation, and prayer — a place to walk and be in your thoughts, to reach into your feelings."

The park was born to bring a measure of solace for those left behind, Kelly said.

"I feel that my brother Tom and all my friends that were killed that horrible day, as well as the far-too-many folks who are becoming ill and passing after the rescue and recovery work, will have a fitting place," he said.

"Family, friends, the people of Suffolk can come to a beautiful place to pay respects, or to be in the moment with their memories," Kelly said.

Patch file photo by Lisa Finn.