This weekend, St. Rose of Lima Church in Short Hills held several Vigil Masses and services in the cemetery in memory of those who lost their lives as a result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. They also honored the community's first responders who willingly put their lives at risk in service of this community. Msgr. George, Trabold, Pastor of St. Rose of Lima presided at the Mass in which there was a recitation of names of parishioners and other family members and friends who died that day. The conclusion of the Mass was marked by a procession, led by Millburn Fire Department and …

The sun peaked through the gray cloud hovering over the New York City skyline Sunday just before the bells tolled at 8:46 a.m. to remember the first plane that struck the North Tower 10 years ago.  Hundreds packed the Sept. 11 memorial at Essex County's Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange for the 10th annual Essex Remembers Ceremony.  "We chose to be here at Eagle Rock in West Orange because it's our home," said Don Robertson, of South Orange, who was honoring his son, Don Jr. who died in the attacks. "We'll be here every year we can get here." He called Eagle Rock Reservation the "premier …

Up and down the train lines New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001, was the same sad image at the end of the day. “It was heartbreaking to see the cars at the station of those who didn’t make it back home,” said Millburn Mayor Sandra Haimoff, whose vivid memory of the station parking lots has stayed with her. Five residents of Millburn and Short Hills went in to the city that day, but never came home. Many along the Morris & Essex lines have a similar recollection; at each station a handful of cars remained that evening. On Sept. 11, 2001, Vic DeLuca was Mayor of neighboring Maplewood — just as he is …

“America-America, words of liberty, words of freedom,a melodious melody,glorious lyrics and sounds...a hymn, and a vision of freedom, let’s keep it around. America-America church spirals, that climb up to the heavenly skies. church bells chiming aloud. American flags waving in the breeze. … from border to border, coast to coast and to the ocean seas.
 magnificent cities spread across the American plain...many so beautiful they’re hard to describe and explain. America-America, land of roaring rivers, great lakes, oceans and majestic mountains that soar to the sky America-America, majestic snow…

Nearly 10 years to the day, hundreds gathered on the northeast waterfront of Liberty State Park in Jersey City Saturday afternoon to pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of the 2,977 people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That moment was part of an hour-long ceremony to unveil a new memorial titled “Empty Sky” that names the 746 New Jersey residents killed on that clear September morning. Unlike the hours and days following 9/11 when the New York City airways were eerily quiet and the Twin Towers in pieces, the sky above lower Manhattan on Saturday seemed anything …

The weekend before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Mark Charette took his family on a hike in the South Mountain Reservation and stopped to look at the skyline, pointing out where he worked whenever he went to the city. There they stood, the Twin Towers punctuating the skyline on that clear September day, so that his three children could see it from afar. First thing on Sept. 11, Mark, an insurance broker who usually worked in the Marsh & McLennan Morristown, N.J. office, was holding a team meeting on the 100th floor of the North Tower. “I knew he was in New York, but I had …

The tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001 will be remembered and its victims and heroes honored at ceremonies and special events around Essex County this Sunday. Municipalities, organizations and houses of worship are gathering together and have invited the public to attend various types of memorials.  Listed below are events occurring on Sept. 11 in Livingston, Maplewood, Millburn, South Orange, and West Orange. Please feel free to share anything we have not included in the Comments Section. MILLBURN: Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills will hold a service to commemorate the 10th anniversary at…