SLIDESHOW | Never forgotten: Ten years later, Valley residents unite to share lessons of 9/11

The moon was rising over the Cascades as the candles began to glow at Si View Park. Seated on a lawn chair, Kevin Fisher of Preston helped two family friends, young Rhys Kippen, 9, and sister Ridley, 5, with a flickering flame, all three listening as the Cascade Covenant Choir raised voices for peace. An hour earlier, Si View Park looked festive, with a softball game wrapping up on the field and a sizable crowd nestling onto chairs and blankets on the front lawn. But the moment was a solemn one: the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "I'm never going to forget, never," said North Bend resident Lynn Kehoe, who waved a small American flag from her camp chair. "My yard is even decorated."

By Seth Truscott • September 12, 2011 1:18 pm
Kevin Fisher of Preston helps Ridley
Kevin Fisher of Preston helps Ridley

The moon was rising over the Cascades as the candles began to glow at Si View Park.

Seated on a lawn chair, Kevin Fisher of Preston helped two family friends, young Rhys Kippen, 9, and sister Ridley, 5, with a flickering flame, all three listening as the Cascade Covenant Choir raised voices for peace.

An hour earlier, Si View Park looked festive, with a softball game wrapping up on the field and a sizable crowd nestling onto chairs and blankets on the front lawn. But the moment was a solemn one: the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“I’m never going to forget, never,” said North Bend resident Lynn Kehoe, who waved a small American flag from her camp chair. “My yard is even decorated.”

Like so many around her, Kehoe remembers exactly what she was doing when the hijacked airliners struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, or were brought down in Shanksville, Pa.

“I was on my way to work when it happened,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Kehoe has lived her life differently in the decade sense.

“I’ve been a lot more careful, but I also recognize community a lot more,” she said.

That sense of community was made clear by dignitaries who spoke at the Sept. 11 commemorations held Sunday in Snoqualmie and North Bend.

In downtown Snoqualmie, veterans including the Snoqualmie Valley Veterans Honor Guard and American Legion, police, firefighters, city officials, clergy and local Boy Scouts met to lower the old flag at Railroad Park early Sunday, then raise a new one. Snoqualmie resident Dave Battey rang 10 bell tolls, one for each year that has passed since the attacks.

In North Bend, Mayor Ken Hearing, Pastor John Jenks, State Rep. Jay Rodne and County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert joined the choir for an evening ceremony.

Trumpeter John Lang played “Taps” at both events.

“This is what community is all about—being able to be together to share and support one another,” said Lambert, who compared Sept. 11, 2001, to the Challenger Shuttle disaster and President Kennedy’s assassination.

“Nine-eleven made us a family,” she said.

“I’ll never forget what happened on 9/11,” Hearing said softly, concluding his remarks. The mayor had been on a fishing trip, and recalled an overwhelming desire to be with his family and pray for the innocent lives taken for incomprehensible reasons.

“Nine-eleven was one of those events that forced us to remember where we were and how we felt,” said Hearing. “Probably the greatest common emotion was unity with all other citizens. A feeling of pride, resolve and sorrow.”

“Like many other towns and cities, we are taking time to reflect on what it means to be an American… and why these challenges make us stronger as a nation.”

Thinking about the thousands of police, firefighters, paramedics and victims of that day, Rodne “had a profound sense of sadness, not only for what it meant for those families, but what it meant for the country, what it meant for those military members like myself, who I knew would be going somewhere soon after the towers came down.”

“There’s got to be a bigger meaning,” he added. Two years later, Rodne, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine reserves, found himself among the forces liberating Iraqi villages from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“I have to believe that out of the ashes of 9/11, we are giving the gift of freedom, bring a witness to freedom around the world,” Rodne said.

Saluting the flag, a group of firefighters and emergency responders from Eastside Fire and Rescue and Medic One listened as “Taps” was played, remembering their fallen fellows.

“It’s something that gets to us—the respect and dedication to courage those people showed is something that’s imprinted on all of us,” EFR Deputy Chief Bud Backer said.

On vacation, Backer had spent the day at regional Sept. 11 ceremonies, after spending a tearful morning watching televised programs on the New York events. He joined EFR volunteers and the duty crew at the Valley vigil.

“We also show support for our soldiers who have been defending us ever since that day,” he said. “A lot of them have given the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq. It means a lot to us.”