Albion, Brockport both hosting 9/11 remembrance services on Friday
Photos by Tom Rivers: Firefighters stand under a giant American flag that was hoisted above Main Street by the ladder trucks from Medina and Murray on Sept. 11, 2024.
There will be Sept. 11 remembrance services on Friday in Albion and Brockport on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Orleans County will be holding a service on the courthouse lawn beginning at 6 p.m.
Scott Schmidt is the keynote speaker for the service. Schmidt, the Orleans County chief coroner and a funeral director for Mitchell Family Cremations and Funerals, spent three weeks with the federal DMORT team after 9/11 and assisted in collecting and identifying remains, and interviewing family members searching for loved ones.
The terrorists attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others. Terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the other into a field in rural Shanksville, Pa.
The service will include a welcome message from Lynne Johnson, chairwoman of the Orleans County Legislature; and opening and closing prayer from David Fish, pastor of the Barre Center Presbyterian Church; a timeline of Sept. 11 by Justin Niederhofer, the Orleans County emergency management director; and a gun salute from the Honor Guard of the American Legion and VFW.
Doug Egling will play “America the Beautiful” and the crowd will join in singing, “God Bless America.”
In Brockport, there is a Firefighters’ Memorial Monument at 237 South Main St.
That location is the setting for a day of reflection and remembrance on Sept. 11.
The schedule in Brockport incudes an opening ceremony at 8:30 a.m., ringing of the bell at 8:47 a.m., and a closing ceremony at 6:30 p.m.
An Honor Guard will stand vigil throughout the day, paying their respects to those who were killed.
A “Ring of Gold” will replace the Honor Guard for a moment of silence prior to the closing ceremony at 6:30 p.m. The Ring of Gold includes personnel from various agencies.
