Four years after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the city of Hoboken and its residents are preparing a number of commemorative events to honor those lost.
On and around this weekend, hundreds will gather at local churches, synagogues and parks.
Interfaith service
The city has announced that with the aid of the Hoboken Clergy Coalition, it will hold an interfaith service at 7 p.m. today (Sunday, Sept. 11).
The event will take place at Pier A Park and last approximately 30 minutes. The service will include interfaith prayers and readings by members of the Hoboken Clergy Coalition, as well as musical interludes.
The service will take place near the entrance of the park by the memorial flame, which bears the names of those who died in the attacks.
“The events of that day are still etched on our minds, and for many, the healing process continues,” said Mayor David Roberts Thursday. “Hoboken lost over 50 of its residents on that horrific day, so it is important for us to join together as a community and reflect together.”
An hour and a half before the vigil, the Hoboken Sept. 11 Memorial Fund Committee invites all residents to arrive at Pier A Park at 5:30 p.m. to participate in Narrative Gathering Project. It will be an opportunity to share and document your recollections of 9/11.
All of the submissions will by archived as part of Hoboken’s history and excerpts may be used on the narrative wall as part of a memorial that is in the works for Pier A.
Ringing of the church bell
Also today, All Saints Episcopal Church at the corner of Seventh and Washington streets will ring a special church bell at 8:46 a.m. and at 9:03 a.m., the times when the planes hit the Towers. The bell is a gift from the families of the victims to the church for its support since the tragedy.
All Saints has been one of the leaders in helping the families cope with the realities of 9/11. On Oct. 17, 2001, All Saints Episcopal Parish held a public Memorial Service in conjunction with St. Mary’s FAITH Services for victims’ families.
That day, Sandy O’Connor, a World Trade Center widow, attended that service and met Laurie Wurm, a missioner of All Saints. O’Connor’s husband Keith O’Connor had worked in the south WTC tower. Together, Wurm and O’Connor created a 9/11 support group for the families of victims, which still meets occasionally.
Unveiling of ‘Comfort and Hope’
Also at All Saints Church, there will be a remembrance service at 1 p.m. and artist Raymond Smith’s finished painting, “Comfort and Hope” will be on display at the church all day.
The painting is a large oil painting which depicts the first candlelight vigil on Pier A in Hoboken as the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort was arriving in New York to assist with the search and rescue effort.
Smith said the idea blossomed on the evening of Friday, Sept. 14, 2001, when hundreds of people gathered on Pier A for a candlelight vigil. The artist and his family arrived as the hospital ship Comfort sailed up the Hudson as part of the relief effort. The scene made an impression on him that has taken four years to mature.
The painting includes people who either lost someone on that day or helped the artist with other 9/11 projects he developed. The Hoboken Children’s Memorial Flag on display at the Hoboken Board of Education is one of those projects.
The central figures in the piece are O’Connor and her daughter Rhiannon. Wurm is included in the painting along with Father Robert Griner and some of the members of the local 9/11 support group. The artist chose to include people who weren’t necessarily there that night, but whom he felt “would always be on that pier.”
A preliminary study for the piece is currently on display at the Hoboken Historical Museum as part of its current exhibition “The City of Hoboken.” The exhibit closes Dec. 23, 2005.
The painting will also be on view for the Hoboken Artists Studio Tour at the Edwin A. Stevens building, Hudson and Fifth streets, on Sunday, Oct. 16 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Work on memorial ongoing
Last year, a committee made up of local residents, artists and family members of the victims officially selected the design concept for a permanent memorial.
The memorial for Pier A Park on the south waterfront will be called “Hoboken Island.” The concept was designed by a firm called the FLOW Group, which brings together five award-winning professionals from art, architecture, engineering and lighting design.
When the memorial will be built is unclear. Because the island will have to be built out over the water, they have had to apply to the Army Corp of Engineers. That application is still pending.
FLOW has proposed a freestanding island that juts off the northwest corner of Pier A. The island will be connected to the pier by a “narrative wall” and a footbridge, according to officials from the 9/11 Memorial Fund.
The wall will be inscribed with first-person accounts of Sept. 11, including the experiences of Hoboken observers, volunteers, medical triage personnel, and family members. The words of victims will also appear. In the middle of the island, the designers will put a “tidal well,” or a hole in the island through which people can look at the river. The well will be circled with cast glass containing the names of Hoboken’s victims. At night, the tidal well will be illuminated and visible from lower Manhattan.
Last year, the Memorial Fund committee received a $500,000 state grant. The project is expected to cost between $650,000 and $750,000, which means the Memorial Fund committee is still accepting donations.
For information on the design or how to donate, visit the Memorial Fund’s Web site www.hoboken911.com or call City Hall at (201) 420-2222.
At the synagogue
Also today (Sunday), the United Synagogue of Hoboken will hold its first local “Mitzvah Day.” Inspired by Mitzvah Day’s perennial theme, Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world, the community service day has been created to encourage the congregants to go out into the community to make a difference in the lives of others. The event will be a chance for the United Synagogue Community, adults and children of all ages, to participate in of 14 different community service projects around the area.
Activities will include delivering meals to seniors, sending cards to soldiers in Iraq, tutoring in literacy and English as a Second Language, providing assistance at the local shelters, cleaning up a local park, working with Habitat for Humanity to construct affordable housing, and creating artwork for hospital patients.
Following the Mitzvah Day, the United Synagogue of Hoboken will hold a ceremony in memory of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11 at 5:30 p.m. The event will be held at that synagogue at 115 Park Ave. For more information, call (201) 659-4000.