Editor’s Update Sept. 11, 2013: Today Naperville and the Exchange Club of Naperville Americanism Committee will host a September 11 Observance, again beginning with music at 5:30PM and a program at 6PM at the Sept. 11 Memorial behind the Naperville Municipal Center along the Riverwalk.
We will always be mindful of that horrific day when first responders and many Americans began to show their strength of resilience.
PN Editor Reflections on Sept. 10 2012
It’s no secret. Experiences shape who you are.
Family, education, faith, friends, community, travel, nature, joys, sorrows, health, technology and memorable milestones create your individuality—continually distinguishing you from everyone else.
Experiences provide a lifetime of reasons to pause, reflect and connect.
Whether or not you watched all or the better parts of nearly two weeks’ worth of both presidential conventions, you’ll likely turn your reflections this Tuesday to the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
5:30PM Tues., Sept. 11- Remembrance
In Naperville, a remembrance will begin at 5:30PM, preceded by musical tributes, at the Cmdr. Dan Shanower Sept. 11 Memorial behind the Municipal Center along the Riverwalk. The community observance is being organized by the Americanism Committee of the Exchange Club of Naperville.
We will remember where we were that fateful morning 11 years ago.
Sept. 11, 2001, also was a Tuesday
That morning in 2001, the Rotary Club of Naperville Board of Directors, on which I served, met as it used to do every month at Egg Harbor. Barb Dwyer, then-president of the service club, was running the meeting that included, among many agenda items, talk about the United Way Outdoor Art Auction that was to “raise new heights and funds,” planned on Sept. 14. Rotary had entered the summer exhibit featuring baby giraffe sculptures with an entry named “Gesundheit,” representing the club’s Oktoberfest fundraiser and the city’s German heritage. (The sculpture still stands today for community spirit in the lobby of the Naperville Municipal Center.)
Minutes before 8AM, Rotary board member Jeanne Johnson received a cellphone call. She left the back dining room to answer. Seconds later she returned with the horrific news that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. Dwyer quickly adjourned the meeting.
As the day unfolded, stunning news of three other attacks of aggression on the United States also revealed that one of Naperville’s native sons, Cmdr. Dan Shanower, had been killed while at work at the Pentagon.
In the days, weeks and months that followed, the heroics of first responders and survivors were recognized.
On a personal note, our family received news that three friends had been killed at the World Trade Center—Bonnie Smithwick, Tony Infante and Michael Boccardi. We also heard from many friends back East where we had lived prior to moving here who also were touched by the loss of loved ones among 2,977 innocent victims killed by 19 suicide hijackers.
Sept. 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan
Last week, I received an e-mail regarding a New York Post story about the Sept. 11 Memorial after its first year of completion. The article by Annie Karni is titled “Tourists treating 9/11 Memorial like a playground.”
“The relaxed atmosphere at the 9/11 Memorial stands in contrast to other national memorials. At the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, visitors are shown a video explaining the significance of the site before entering. A large sign at the entrance reads: ‘Please conduct yourself with dignity and respect at all times. Remember this is hallowed ground,'” wrote Karni.
“At the 9/11 Memorial, a list of visitor rules directs them to a Web site for more information about respecting the memorial. One sign on the plaza reminds visitors that the memorial is ‘a place of remembrance and quiet reflection.’ ”
Though I have not visited New York City since the Sept. 11 Memorial was completed last year, I’m reminded of a much different experience at Ground Zero in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan a few months after the attacks.
In late 2001, I traveled to NYC to attend the annual “Old-Timers” party, an all-inclusive gathering for everyone who had ever worked at one of Jerry Della Femina’s ad agencies since 1967. Before the luncheon that Fri., Dec. 7, I visited Ground Zero while large sprays dampened the site of the clean up. That day it was raining and hundreds of peaceful people under umbrellas moved slowly in solemn respect, many placing flowers and other tributes along the fence by the historic St. Paul’s Chapel with its distinctive spire—a short distance from where building 5 of the World Trade Center stood.
That day a big sign at the church, first opened in 1766 and somehow spared from destruction on Sept. 11, indicated it was a place where recovery workers could get a little R & R.
God bless First Responders
That day I also was mindful that retired Naperville firefighter Chuck Wehrli had spent 10 days at Ground Zero as a member of Missouri Task Force One, a special FEMA search and rescue team, searching for survivors in the aftermath of the attacks. A special tribute to Wehrli was featured during PN’s first year. (In recent years, Wehrli has taken his story into local classrooms. In 2010, Wehrli, pictured here, recounted his New York experience during the Sept. 11 observance in City Council Chambers.)
And when I looked at the rubble, I flashed back to the remarkable view from Windows of the World on the 106th floor of the North Tower on July 7, 1978, the joyful day we celebrated our marriage with our small wedding party in the World Trade Center.
That December day in New York, I also visited the Red Hook Fire Station in Brooklyn, thanks to a connection via Naperville native David Eigenberg who lived in New York at the time. Seven members of their company were killed responding to the attack.
Afterward, I wrote about my afternoon at the Red Hook Fire House in the Neighbor section of the Daily Herald. Recently, I discovered that the column from January 2002 still is featured on their website.
I will never forget that afternoon, sitting and talking with the dedicated New York firefighters as they acknowledged donations with hand-written thank you letters. Every time they noted a Naperville return address, they’d ask, “Do you know this person?” And many times I was grateful to say that I did.
During the ups and downs and uncertainties of the past 11 years, complete with complicated conflicts that put American troops in harms way, I often am drawn to a quote by Douglas MacArthur. “The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace.”
Peace and God bless America.
New York Post story, Sept. 2, 2012: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/it_play_ground_zero_now_qAzM19XpnqwuoAbdwOmC9J
FYI: Naperville resident Bev Eigenberg said recently that her actor son, David, has returned to the Midwest to appear in the ensemble cast of a new series on NBC titled “Chicago Fire,” that began airing on Wednesday evenings in October 2012. The show began its second season on Sept. 24. No doubt, David Eigenberg will draw from his friendships and experiences with the firefighters at Red Hook Fire House.
P.S. In her monthly PN column in the Sept. 2013 issue, Emy Trotz, a past president of the Exchange Club of Naperville, talks about the 2013 annual observance hosted by the Exchange Club of Naperville Americanism Committee that will begin at 6PM Wed., Sept. 11.
God bless America on Sept. 11, 2013, and every day. Grace. And Peace.
—Stephanie Penick, Editor
