Memorial honors Sept. 11 victims
Howell officials & relatives of those lost dedicate monument
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

JEFF GRANIT staff Patricia Lennon (r), the wife of John Lennon Jr., who was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, speaks with attendees at the dedication ceremony of Howell’s 9/11 memorial on Oct. 28.

The formal dedication last week of Howell’s Sept. 11 memorial is a hometown tribute that brought true comfort to some of the loved ones of the people that the monument was erected to honor.

Linda Rhodes, whose husband, John, was one of five Howell residents who died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, attended the dedication ceremony accompanied by her daughter Debbie Malek.

JEFF GRANIT staff John “Jack” Lennon Sr., the father of John Lennon, who was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, looks up at the center pentagon that is part of Howell’s 9/11 monument. The monument at the municipal complex was dedicated Oct. 28.

Rhodes, a 21-year resident of Howell, said it was hard to find the words to express her gratitude to the people of Howell for their desire to commemorate her husband and the others in this way.

Rhodes and Malek said they know they will both find comfort in coming to the monument for quiet times of reflection.

“It’s so much nicer than going to the city,” said Malek, who recounted the trips she has made to ground zero.

Malek said although pieces of her father’s briefcase were retrieved and returned to her on one of those trips, that did not offer the comfort that having a hometown place to visit does.

Rhodes, who said she has one grandchild and two more on the way, said Howell’s monument to their grandfather will make visiting the site with them all the more special.

Howell residents Colin McArthur, Joseph Sacerdote, John Lennon Jr. and Alan Wisniewski were also killed in the attack that signaled the start of a coordinated global war on terrorism.

Lennon’s wife, Patricia, his mother, Lucille, and father, John “Jack” Lennon Sr., were also present at the Oct. 28 dedication at the municipal complex.

Patricia and Lucille Lennon both said the construction of a memorial to honor their lost loved one and the others was a nice thing for the town to have done.

Mayor Joseph M. DiBella said the monument was built to honor not only the people who were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, but all whose lives have been lost in the continuing battle against terrorism.

The construction of the monument was budgeted at $150,000 and came in under the projected cost that included labor and the cost of materials, according to Helene Schlegel, director of Parks and Recreation.

The design and construction was the work of Howell resident Miguel Eiras, a professional stone mason who designed the structure and constructed it with the help of another Howell resident, Eugene Snyder. Both men are volunteer firemen with the Squankum Fire Company.

The memorial they constructed is a dome-shaped structure with five arches, representing each of the Howell residents killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Their names are engraved in black marble plaques mounted along the inside of the arches along with plaques featuring national symbols such as the American eagle and the Washington Monument.

The five arches meet at the top in a pentagon, an homage to the lives lost in the attack at the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

The floor of the monument features black and gray stone on which an outline of the World Trade Center’s twin towers in the New York skyline is depicted.

A large black granite rock inside the dome is inset with a plaque commemorating the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 along with a pedestal that contains a piece of the World Trade Center.

The rock is from the Shanksville, Pa., area where Flight 93 crashed in a field following a revolt against the plane’s hijackers by passengers. Government officials believe the passengers’ revolt prevented the terrorists from piloting the plane into a target in Washington, D.C.

Inlaid along a perimeter bench are marble tiles etched with the names of every known victim of the terrorist attacks that took place at the various U.S. targets on Sept. 11. More than 3,000 people were killed in the attacks carried out by members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.

Dignitaries who attended the ceremony that ran more than an hour under a crisp October evening sky included state assemblymen Joseph Malone and Ronald Dancer, and Monmouth County Freeholder Bill Barham.

On hand to represent U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine was Virginia S. Bauer, who recounted losing her husband, David, in the World Trade Center attack.

Ramtown Fire Company Chief Robert Kelly spoke about the 343 “brothers” who, along with Lennon, a transit authority officer, lost their lives on 9/11 while trying to help save others.

The ceremony, which was officiated by DiBella and Township Council members and featured the Howell Police Honor Guard and the Monmouth County Police Pipes and Drums, was opened by a rousing rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” as sung by Priscilla Malave and Natalie Rivera.

DiBella announced that New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith had arranged to have a special flag flown over the White House in honor of the dedication of the Howell memorial.