Five Towns honors 9/11 victims at Cedarhurst memorial ceremony

Five Towners and surrounding community members will fill the lawn of Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park to pay homage to those who lost their lives 23 years ago, in the tragic events on Sept. 11, 2001. 

Nearly 3,000 people were killed by four hijacked airplanes, two of which crashed into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, one of which into the Pentagon and one rerouted and crashed in Shanksville, Pa. on that Tuesday.

Of those lives, were seven residents of the Five Towns and connected communities:  Thomas Jurgens, Neil Levin, Bettina Browne-Radburn, Joseph Rivelli Jr., Kevin O’Rourke, Howard Selwyn and Ira Zaslow.

“Remembering the events of that day is vitally important,” Cedarhurst Mayor Benjamin Weinstock wrote in an email. “It is an opportunity to teach our children, many of whom are young adults today, that there are people who hate us for the freedoms we enjoy that should be cherished. We live in the greatest country in the world and that should not be taken for granted.”

Local fire departments, politicians, religious leaders, school organizations, village officials and residents have attended previous ceremonies.

“Each year, our community comes together at our unique memorial park, which features a poignant piece of steel from the Twin Towers and a pathway that narrates the events of that fateful day,” Ari Brown, Cedarhurst’s deputy mayor and the community’s assemblyman wrote in an email. “This culminates in a specially dedicated fountain, serving as a solemn tribute to those that we lost.”

Last year, the Lawrence High School Band started the event with a rendition of “America” by Michael Francis Smith, followed by Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department’s presentation of the colors and the Lawrence High Vocal Ensemble’s performance of the national anthem.

Rabbi Moshe Monczyk of Shulamith School for Girls in Cedarhurst delivered the invocation.

United States Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, New York State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman all attended as well.

Blakeman’s nephew, Thomas Jurgens, was one of the lives lost in the Five Towns.

“I’m among family and friends and people I’ve known for years,” Blakeman said last year. “This was my community, it is my community.”

Village trustees acknowledged the granite markers in Cedarhurst Park, part of the 9/11 memorials, which stands year round.

The ceremony closed with a moment of silence, “Taps,” Lawrence High Vocal Ensemble’s rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings” and “God Bless America,” and retiring of the colors by the Lawrence Cedarhurst Fire Department and Deacon Tom Costello of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Inwood.

The 2024 remembrance ceremony will be on Sept. 11 at 4 p.m. at Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park, 235 Cedarhurst Ave., in Cedarhurst.