Brookline Fire Lieutenant Peter Moyer gave an emotional speech at Friday’s ceremony to honor the eight individuals with Brookline connections killed during the attacks on September 11, 2001. Select Board Chair David Pearlman stood with him at the microphone. Photo by Benjamin Farkas
More than 100 people gathered Friday morning at Fire Station 5 to honor the lives of eight people with Brookline connections who died 25 years ago in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“Out of great tragedy comes great bravery,” event organizer Elizabeth Childs said in an interview. Childs served as the state’s mental health commissioner under former Gov. Mitt Romney and now works as a psychiatrist. “It’s a day of hope. It was a day of America confronting real evil.”
Speakers in the ceremony – which drew first responders, elected officials and community members – spoke while standing in a 9/11 remembrance garden planted in front of the fire station on Babcock Street. The Brookline Select Board in May voted to form a 9/11 Memorial Advisory Committee, which will soon head up an effort to establish a permanent memorial in town to honor the eight local victims.
Those with Brookline connections who were killed in 9/11 include Daniel Lewin, Lisa Gordenstein, Gerard P. Dewan, Kelly Ann Booms, John Brett Cahill, Manuel Del Valle Jr., Karleton Fyfe and Christine Barbuto.
Lewin, a passenger on Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, is widely believed to have been the first victim of the attacks after being stabbed during an attempt to stop the hijacking.
“Empathy can triumph over malice,” said David Pearlman, chair of the Brookline select board. Pearlman emceed the ceremony, and welcomed speakers who shared their reflections on the tragedy.
John Bassett plays taps at Brookline’s ceremony to honor the victims of 9/11. Photo by Benjamin Farkas
Hugh Joseph, an adjunct Tufts professor of nutrition, attended the ceremony to honor John Ogonowski, a pilot on Flight 11. Joseph said in an interview that he was with Ogonowski’s wife, Peggy, when they got a call from the airline company that John was killed in a hijacking.
Ogonowski had contributed roughly 10 acres of land to the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project that Joseph developed. The project connected immigrant Cambodian farmers to land and education that would empower them to become commercial farmers in the United States. Peggy and Joseph had been at a dinner with members of the project when they got the call about John.
“I don’t know what would happen if that happened today,” Joseph said. “When do people come together? When should they come together?”
Brookline resident Mike Laffey said he attends the fire station’s remembrance ceremony every year. His father’s 25 years on the Brookline police force instilled in him the importance of honoring the first responders killed in the attacks.
Firefighters stand in their Class A uniforms at Brookline’s ceremony to honor the victims of 9/11. Photo by Benjamin Farkas
“Let this anniversary be a renewal of our vows,” said David Randolph, the fire department’s operations chief. “Let us commit to living with the same spirit of unity and service that emerged from the ashes of 9/11.”
State representative Tommy Vitolo called for unity, saying the memory of the first responders and victims should remind us to help one another out, regardless of political affiliation or disagreements. “They helped because someone needed help,” Vitolo said. “That’s what we should remember.”
This story is the product of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program.