Rockland County hosted a 9/11 memorial
ceremony at Haverstraw Bay County Park to honor those who died in the attacks.
More than 200 people showed
up for the service to honor 83 people with ties to Rockland County who died that
day.
Many of their families were there to read
the names of their loved ones and a bell rang for each of them.
Anne Pettus shared a reading for her
daughter, Laura Longing, who was a
new mother at the time of the attack.
"My
daughter was 35 years old when she was taken,” says Pettus. “She had just gone
back to work, and left a 3-month-old and 19-month-old
baby."
Longing was an assistant vice president with a
company based on the 96th floor of the World
Trade Center.
"We
never really got anything back of her. We never really had closure,” says
Pettus. “But, you know, we have to go on. We have to remember, and we always
will remember."
Longing
is memorialized on a memorial wall right near where American Airlines Flight 93 was flying
south near the Hudson River before hitting the North
Tower.
Pettus
says 21 years later these events do not get any easier, but she still goes to
share her daughter’s story because she is a part of history.
Longing’s
children are now in college and will be starting their careers soon.
County
Executive Ed Day was also at the ceremony. He encouraged anyone who was
touched by 9/11 to “live a meaningful life in honor of those we lost that day.”