12 Years Later, Impact of 9/11 Attacks Still Felt Hard in Basking Ridge

Bernards Township's way of remembering the 12th anniversary of an event that killed about 20 of its residents, depending on how their residency was counted, and changed the lives of so many in this town seemed to be mostly through quiet reflection on Wednesday.

As urged by parents last year, Ridge High School and the William Annin Middle School both held moments of silence on Wednesday to recall an event in which parents of some of the school's students perished a dozen years ago.

In response to a question, Social Studies Supervisor Kristin Fox said age-specific lessons about the terrorist attacks had not been taught at the high school on Wednesday.

Instead, teachers addressed the event, and the concepts related to Sept. 11, 2001 as part of the school curriculum, Fox said.

She said it was felt that the moment of silence was "the most appropriate commemoration." 

Fox said teachers in kindergarten through grade 8 conducted lessons as well, which the school previously said covered age-appropriate discussions such as acts of kindness and dealing with public events.  "I attended many of the lessons in the middle school and they were very meaningful," she said.

In Liberty Corner, where the Liberty Corner Fire Department two years ago had dedicated a memorial at its firehouse on Church St. to the firefighters who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, the company displayed a giant flag throughout the day.

Update: Heartworks, located on Route 202 in Basking Ridge just over the border from Bernardsville, also held a brief ceremony on Wednesday morning, and read a roll call of names of local residents killed in the terrorist attack.

Mayor Carolyn Gaziano and Township Committeewoman Carol Bianchi said they were planning to attend the county's memorial service on Wednesday.

Later on Wednesday, at a brief service to recall Bernardsville's two residents killed on 9/11, Somerset County Freeholder Director Peter Palmer, a Bernardsville resident, said that ceremony, held at the county's memorial by the Somerset County Courthouse in downtown Somerville, also had been low-key.

The serene 9/11 wall at Harry Dunham Park dedicated to residents lost in the terrorist attack was quiet also on Wednesday morning. A few floral arrangements, some homemade, had been placed by a sign designating "A Place to Remember."