Anthony 9/11 Memorial earns state recognition
By Clara Kilbourn
The Hutchinson News
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| Unidentified people sit next to
the Anthony 9/11 Memorial in this photo from September 2004. On Tuesday,
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed into law a bill that designates the memorial
as the stateís official monument to the 2001 attacks. File photo. |
ANTHONY - The simple formation made of a chunk of steel, a piece of limestone and a vessel of dirt stands together in Memorial Park as this rural Kansas community's remembrance to Sept. 11, 2001.
On Tuesday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a bill that designates the Anthony 9/11 Memorial as the official state memorial.
"We built it with love, and we did it because it was the right thing to do," 9/11 memorial committee member Debbie Mangen said.
The significance of their memorial is that it is formed with steel from the World Trade Center, a limestone brick from the Pentagon and dirt from Shanksville, Pa., committee Chairwoman Donna Crowe said. At night, twin beams of light represent the World Trade Center.
Like other communities across the country, immediately after the events of 9/11, the town wanted to establish a victims' relief fund, former Mayor John Schott said.
"We decided that rather than sending it to a huge faceless organization, we wanted to know that it actually did some good," he said.
That led to establishing a relationship with Engine 88, Ladder 38, the company of fallen firefighter Joseph P. Spor Jr. of the Bronx. Spor's fellow firefighters used the $1,400 collected in Anthony for materials that completed a home remodeling project he had started.
In appreciation of the gift, Lt. Joe Huber, also a member of Engine 88, Ladder 38, came to Anthony for an all-school and community ceremony that honored local volunteer firefighters.
Since that time, schoolchildren have sent letters and care packages to the station, and Anthony residents, New York firefighters and members of Spor's family have exchanged visits.
That community spirit led to the town's 9/11 memorial. The monument serves as a healing for families and a healing for the New York City firefighters who have visited Anthony.
"The word we hear a lot is that we got it right," Mangen said. "They couldn't understand how a small town in Kansas understood."
The memorial is a place where children and future generations can learn how Anthony and an entire nation reacted that day, she said.
"They can touch the steel, see the limestone and the soil," Mangen said. "It didn't just happen in New York and Washington, D.C., and in Shanksville. It happened across the entire nation."
03/29/2006; 02:35:15 AM