NEW YORK — Vicki Meeks on Saturday showed her grandchildren the silhouette of her cousin Jerry Barbara. The FDNY assistant chief was killed on September 11th 2001.
“He has five beautiful grandchildren,” Meeks said. “I wish he could see what his children did.”
Meeks’ daughter says the Postcards Memorial gives Staten Islanders a very personal and poignant place to grieve.
“You can touch the silhouette. You can feel his mustache,” Joelle Marsicano said. “You can look across and see that was the site.”
“We did rebuild,” she added, “and we have to remember we are in this together.”
Friends and family members of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, along with elected officials, gathered at the memorial on Saturday evening to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
“Two decades later, each of us remains impacted because the unique aspects of our lives we held most dear — the parts that defined who we were, that we had built over the courses of our lives — were so irreparably altered,” Staten Island Borough President James Oddo said at the ceremony.
The names of the Staten Islanders killed in the attacks were read aloud, along with the names of those who died after working at the World Trade Center site following the attacks.
For Amy Rice, that includes her father.
“The people that we lost that day, nothing compares to that. But the people who were just doing their job and trying to help, it still impacted them, whether they knew it or not,” Rice said. “No one had a thought when they came out to help.”
The ceremony was held in person after it was conducted virtually last year, giving those attending the opportunity to reconnect.
Paul Henrique, who lost his sister Michelle in 9/11 said you can offer support in person that you cannot provide online.
“Virtual — not to criticize — it is not real,” Henrique said. “Look for someone. Give them a hug and make it a better day.”
Support that Staten Islanders who attended the Postcards Memorial ceremony have been giving each other for the last 20 years.
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