9/11 Memorial Ceremony Draws More Than 200

In front of an incomplete skyline of New York City, more than 200 people gathered Wednesday morning at the Eagle Rock Reservation to honor those who were lost in on 9/11.

Twelve years after the tragic events of Sept. 11, Susan Rossinow who lost her husband in the tragic events told the crowd she wasn’t sure if anyone would show up.

She was proven wrong Wednesday as the 9/11 Memorial on the hilltop in West Orange filled with residents, police and officials on the cloudy morning.

“No day shall erase you from the memory of time,” Don Robinson said, reading to the crowd the inscription on the memorial wall in the 9/11 museum in New York where the remains of the unidentified victims are buried.

Robinson lost his son Don Robinson Jr.

The Cedar Grove resident, Rossinow, lost her husband Norman Rossinow at 39-years-old who was as senior vice-president at Aon Corp at on the 105th floor of the South Tower, she said.

Rossinow, who has remarried told the crowd, “My life has changed so much in 12 years.”

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of Norman,” she said.

The ceremony stopped twice at 8:56 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. for a moment of silence — the times that each of the towers were struck.

Rossinow and Robinson agreed, nothing compares to the Essex County Eagle Rock September 11th Memorial.

The West Orange memorial is the only memorial to list all 3,000 victims’ names until 2011 when the World Trade Center Memorial was dedicated. 

“Thank you for all for this healing place,” Rossinow said to the county officials in attendance.

Among those in attendance were Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-10th Dist.) as well as clergy members from diverse religious faiths. 

 “We must never forget the importance of this day and remember all those who lost their lives," Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said.

Memorial wreaths were laid at the monument and a new American flag was raised. A string quartet also performed at the memorial site after the ceremony until 2 p.m.