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County Keeps 9/11 Memories Alive

FRANK RIZZO

frizzo@antonmediagroup.com

One by one, speakers stepped up to the podium to intone the names of 9/11 victims from Nassau County. Each also had some words to say about a relative who died on that tragic September day.

Hundreds gathered on Sept. 11 under a steady rain at the Harry Chapin Lakeside Theater at Eisenhower Park. The occasion was the county’s 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony and Musical Tribute.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman said, “This mean a lot to me, it means a lot to my family.”

On the day of the attacks, Blakeman was a commissioner for the Port Authority, former owner of the World Trade Center. According to Blakeman, his 26-year-old nephew, New York State Court Officer Sgt. Tommy Jurgens,,“rushed into danger to help evacuate people from Tower Two.”

“Every year I go to Ground Zero because that is my nephew’s final resting place,” Blakeman stated, noting that, as with many others, his remains were never recovered or identified.

His brother Brad worked as a deputy assistant to President George H.W. Bush at the time and related to the audience how the president, after learning about Jurgens, told him, “Tell your family we’ll pray for Tommy and we’ll find whoever did this and bring them to justice.”

Another link to that day was retired 88-year-old FDNY firefighter Bob Beckwith, who led the Pledge of Allegiance. Beckwith had been retired for seven years the day of the attacks, but gathered his gear and drove to Ground Zero to help out. He was on the pile days later as he handed President Bush a bullhorn with which the president spoke as he put his arm around the shoulders of the Baldwin resident.

There were people like Edward Ainbinder, naming Daniel Nathaniel Colbert, who died in the South Tower, as a “son, grandson, brother, cousin, loved friend of many, and my nephew.”

Or Linda Wilson, who said that for 21 years she has kept on her refrigerator a fragment of a greeting card that had been found at Ground Zero and had come from the office desk of her sister Donna.

“It still helps me to face tomorrow,” she said. “I’ll always remember her that Tuesday morning, and those who died with her. I love you, sis.”

William Steckman tended the receiver for NBC at the North Tower, and had been asked to work past his 6 a.m. quitting time that fateful morning.

“You are forever in our hearts,” said his daughter, Donna Steckman.

In all, it took about 20 minutes to read the names of more than 300 county residents killed in the attacks. The Recitation of Names segment also included speakers Margie Miller, Mary Ann Sweeney, Patti Valerio, Diana DeVito, Melissa Habibi, Susan Hutchins, Scott Nuzzi, Dylan Garcia and Deanine and Jim Nagengast.

Tenor Chris Macchio impressed with his powerful rendition of the National Anthem, and later, “Ave Maria,” during the musical interlude. Prayers were intoned by NCPD chaplains Father Kevin Smith, Bishop Robert W. Harris and Rev. Derek A. Garcia.

Blakeman introduced “my rabbi,” Eli Weinstock of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, to give the closing prayer.

At the close of the ceremony, roses were distributed so attendees could place them at the county’s 9/11 memorial.

Donna Steckman remembered her father William, who died at the North Tower.

(Photo by Frank Rizzo)

Bob Beckwith gained fame when the retired firefighter stood with President Bush on the pile at Ground Zero days after the attack.

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