Big events, private time recall 9-11

It was a day of high alert and somber reflection, a day for large public remembrances and a day set aside for private thoughts and prayer.

As the ceremony got under way Wednesday at the Central Fire Station in Bangor, where a crowd assembled to honor the nation’s firefighters and police officers, a young woman and her small daughter slipped quietly out of the sanctuary of the Columbia Street Baptist Church. The mother wept as she walked down the sidewalk, and her daughter stared up at her and wondered why.

At Fairmount Park, two women sat chatting under a tree as their small children played on the slides and the swings. The mothers, old friends, had been driving to the park with their children last Sept. 11, when they heard the shocking news from New York on the car radio.

“We wanted to observe the day here at the park, to be with our children and away from the TV,” said Wendy Flannery of Hampden, who is expecting her third child.

“It’s just peaceful here,” said her friend, Cara Hanson of Orrington. “Today, my thoughts are with the families of the victims, with all the children who lost a mother or father in the attacks, and the wives and husbands who have to raise their children alone. It’s a very painful day for a lot of people.”

As another large ceremony was gearing up near the Bangor Mall, Sister Mary Norberta, the CEO and president of St. Joseph Hospital, arrived at Bangor International Airport after a business trip to New York and Boston. The heightened security measures at the airport in Boston had raised her anxiety a bit, and she used the morning flight back home to pray and reflect.

“I just hope we can all use this time to make a change in our lives and our priorities,” Norberta said before heading to a memorial service at the hospital’s chapel. “It’s so easy to get caught up in the fast pace of life that we lose sight of what’s important. We might never really understand why this tragedy happened – only God knows that – but we should be learning from it, and know that every day is so precious.”

Instead of going to the fire station ceremony, or staying inside to watch the daylong 9/11 TV specials, Dick Smith decided to observe the anniversary by playing a round of golf with his buddies at Bangor Municipal Golf Course. Last year, these same men were playing the sixth hole together when the course pro told them the news and the beautiful Tuesday morning turned into a nightmare.

“There was hardly a day this year when I didn’t think about the tragedy,” Smith said as he loaded his clubs into his car. “So when we got together on the first hole this morning, we all stood there for a moment and thought back to that day. I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot, and I remember where I was on 9/11. This was our observance of a sad, sad day.”

As hundreds gathered for the United Way’s community rally at Bass Park, Buddy Angst waited instead for the doors to open at the American Red Cross blood center. The Bangor accountant is a native of New York, where his brother is a police officer and his uncle a retired firefighter.

“Last year, on this day, I stood in line right here for four hours to give blood, and I wanted to make sure to come back and do it again on the anniversary,” said Angst, whose T-shirt memorialized the 343 firefighters who died when the twin towers collapsed. “I didn’t want to attend any of the big ceremonies in Bangor today, so this is my quiet way of remembering all the people who died. My little act of kindness, of doing something to help. I’ll be back here every year on Sept. 11.”