A touching 9/11 memorial observance was held Wednesday morning at Haverstraw Bay Park.

A memorial at the park shows the names of the 81 Rockland residents who were killed during the World Trade Center terror attacks. Family members read the names of loved ones who were lost on Sept. 11, along with the symbolic tolling of a bell. Family members also read poems and commemorated their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, uncles and nephews who perished. Roses were placed in front of the names of the victims from Rockland County.

"I've been coming for the last 18 years and each time it rips my heart out a little more," says Lynn Lehrfeld.

The annual ceremony brought out many this year, some who lost loved ones and others who just wanted to remember. Many of the mourners told News 12 afterward that they prefer to attend the ceremony in Rockland instead of Manhattan, where their loved ones lost their lives that day.

"This is our community and where he was the happiest. With his children, at the parks and outside. Rockland was our home so that's why I have the comfort of knowing were here at his happiest," says Laurie Weinberg, who lost her husband Steven.

Many young people, some who weren't even alive on 9/11, told News 12 they want to always remember and never forget.

The name of Robert Kirkpatrick is also inscribed on the monument. Kirkpatrick died in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. The focal point of the memorial is a piece of the North Tower donated by a first responder who worked at Ground Zero.