“Hey Joe, the owner of the green Mustang needs to move it because it’s blocking the street!” Cried the man behind the crowd, in the middle of double parked cars, even in triple lines. « Joe », he is the master of ceremonies for the commemoration of September 11th in Inwood, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Manhattan to the north. Here, far from the great Memorial in southern New York and its hordes of elected officials and journalists, we remember the victims of the attacks in an intimate, almost family atmosphere.
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As the sun sets over the city, a hundred people are massed, this Saturday, on the sidewalk of Isham Street, renamed “Way of the heroes of September 11 in Inwood”. Their rallying point: a small garden of memory where stones struck with photos of forty neighbors, who died on September 11, 2001 and after, mingle with flags and flowers. In the middle, two steel beams from the twin towers form a cross.
“I knew almost all the faces”
Tom Healy’s throat is knotted as you walk through the narrow alleys of this green oasis backing onto the Church of Good Shepherd. « I knew almost all the faces on these stones. They were my friends, my neighbors. We grew up together in the neighborhood, from kindergarten to bar counters! », confides this retiree. He is one of the volunteers who maintain the garden. He was not at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, twenty years ago, but he joined other locals and former Good Shepherd priest Kevin Devine, another « gamin d’Inwood », to set up the project in order to pay tribute to deceased locals – rescuers, firefighters or ordinary residents. Founded in 2006, the garden is funded by volunteers and donations. « There was no better way to honor our neighbors », said Tom Healy.
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If the attacks targeted the New York business district, the commemorations of Inwood recall that their shock wave was felt harshly in the districts of New York and its region where the missing lived. A Hispanic stronghold, Inwood was largely populated by Irish Americans until the 1960s, a community well represented in New York City police and firefighters.
“This is my house and it always will be”
Many families have moved to the suburbs. But the 9/11 commemorations at Good Shepherd give them the opportunity to return at least once a year. This is the case of Marisol Torres, the cousin of a New York firefighter, Manuel del Valle Jr., who has a memorial stone in the garden. The same morning, she participated in the traditional ceremony of reading the names of the dead at the National September 11 Memorial, the high point of commemorations in the United States. But that of Inwood has a special flavor. « I was born and raised in Inwood. I did my communion and my daughter’s baptism at Good Shepherd Church. This is my home and it always will be, even if the neighborhood changes », ensures this employee in human resources, who is alsowent to school with many other honored people in this garden.
She knew in particular Jeffrey Healy, a former police officer whose stone was unveiled this Saturday, with that of firefighter Dennis Gilhooly. The two men died in 2019 from cancers contracted during interventions in the toxic “pile” of collapsed towers. A total of 4,627 people enrolled in the medical follow-up program for those present at Ground Zero during and after the attacks died from illnesses that subsequently appeared.
After a short ceremony, concluded by reading the names of the “ hero “Inwood, the organizers invited participants to meet at a local bar for a champagne toast in memory of”our missing friends ».
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