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| A very special place |
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| Brian Sheid (Bucks County Courier Times) |
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More than 2,000 people gathered beneath gray skies in Lower Makefield Saturday afternoon for the dedication of the Garden of Reflection.
In a ceremony that was solemn, patriotic and hopeful, the garden, which will serve as the state’s official Sept. 11 memorial, was unveiled.
“Sept. 11 was our darkest day,” said Ellen Saracini of Yardley, whose husband, Victor, was captain of United Flight 175 that struck the World Trade Center’s South Tower. “Today, Sept. 30, 2006, will forever be remembered as one of our brightest.”
Saturday was the culmination of a volunteer effort that lasted more than four years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and federal grants to build the Sept. 11 memorial on Woodside Road.
The garden is a memorial to the Bucks County victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and all 2,973 victims of that fateful day.
Saturday, Lawrence Newman, president of the Yardley-Makefield Fire Company, rang a bell 17 times for Bucks’ victims, once for the rest.
In the past week, the memorial committee decided to add an 18th name. Sept. 11 victim Barbara Shaw lived in Bensalem for more than 30 years before moving to Morris Township, N.J., where she resided at the time of her death, her brother, Ronald Rystogi, said.
Then, after the crowd bowed their heads for a moment of silence, U.S. Air Force Maj. Samuel Irvin III of Wrightstown flew over the memorial in a C-17.
Saturday’s event was a chance for many to discuss what the purpose of the memorial would be and what it would mean to future generations.
“It is a beautiful tribute to all those that we lost,” said Tara Bane, whose husband, Michael, of Yardley, was killed on Sept. 11.
Both the Rev. Daniell Hamby of St. Andrew Episcopal Church in Yardley and Pastor Michael Picard of St. Andrew Church in Newtown said the Lower Makefield field the memorial now stood upon was “sacred ground.”
“This monument … is a symbol of our love, our connection to the families of those who perished on that day,” said Rabbi Stuart Pollack of Har Sinai Temple in Trenton.
The memorial is a “living, breathing reminder of what occurred,” on Sept. 11, said radio talk show host and author Michael Smerconish, who donated all proceeds of his book “Flying Blind” to the construction of the Lower Makefield memorial.
Lower Makefield architect Liuba Lashchyk, who designed the memorial, said she hoped it would offer “reflection, healing, renewal and, hopefully, peace.”
Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, said the Garden of Reflection would also be evidence of the positives that came from this nation’s darkest day.
“Today we see the tangible hope for a bright future,” Fitzpatrick told the crowd. “This is a very special place.” |
| Photo Credits: Chris Yasinsac ~ Tommy Roche ~ Ellen Saracini ~ Jeff Goldberg ~ Brielle Saracini ~ Michael David ~ Liuba Lashchyk ~ Grace Godshalk ~ Joseph Walker ~ Don George ~ Wendy Brusca ~ Frank Pronesti, Heirloom Studio ~ Courier Times: Jay Crawford, David Planchet, Joe Dixon |
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