By Deepti Hajela
their loved ones, hundreds of relatives of people lost on Sept. 11
gathered at ground zero Sunday for an interfaith memorial service
marking the end of the recovery effort.
Deborah Williams carried a photograph of her son, David, who was
an engineer at the World Trade Center.
"It did me good to be with a lot of people who share what I'm going through" .
The ceremony included the lighting of four candles: one for peace and
three to honor rescue workers, the families and the more than 2,800
people who died there.
"You will never be forgotten. Your memory will live on forever,"
said one woman, as a candle was lighted. Afterward, nine white doves
were released. They circled ground zero before soaring out of sight.
After the ceremony, some family members threw flowers over the fence
into the seven-story pit that is all that remains of the twin towers.
Others attached bouquets to the fence. One woman clutched it and
sobbed, screaming out a name as she looked at the site.
Tom Resta, who lost his brother John, a trader at Carr Futures, said
Sunday's memorial and the others that have been held are all bittersweet.
"I feel they're necessary, but each one is a knife in the heart," he said.
"These things are just too painful."
Dennis McKeon, director of the St. Clare's Church WTC Outreach program,
which organized Sunday's ceremony, said the event was especially important
to families whose loved ones have not been identified.
"Starting next week, this is going to be a construction site, so this is their last
chance to say goodbye," McKeon said.
About 1,100 victims have been identified and nearly 20,000 body parts were
recovered during the excavation of the 16-acre site, which ends after more than
eight months of round-the-clock work.
Jennifer Nilsen, 33, lost her husband Troy Nilsen, a Cantor Fitzgerald worker
whose remains have not been identified.
"It's real important, you know, saying goodbye to my husband, which I never
wanted to do," she said. "I'm glad this was done today."
On Thursday, thousands of people attended a service organized by the city to
mark the end of the cleanup at the site and to honor the rescue workers.
An empty, flag-draped stretcher symbolizing the victims whose remains have not
been recovered was carried out of the pit, followed by the trade center's last
steel beam, draped in black cloth and a flag.
Nilsen said she was grateful for the interfaith memorial, because caring for her two
children made it impossible to attend the Thursday ceremony. Several victims'
groups had criticized Mayor Michael Bloomberg for not holding the city service
on a weekend, when they said it would be easier for families to attend.
The mayor said he chose a weekday because he did not want the service to
interfere with religious observances. Before Sunday's service, he said he wouldn't
attend because he didn't "want to politicize anything."
Among the dignitaries at the family memorial were former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
and Sen. Charles Schumer.
The search for human remains will continue at the Staten Island landfill where
1.8 million tons of debris were taken by trucks and barges, city officials said.
The cleanup finished more than three months earlier than expected and, at less than
$750 million, at a fraction of the estimated cost.
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