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Morris drive aims to
raise money for memorial The Morris County Sept. 11 Foundation has launched a "Buy a Brick" campaign to raise funds for installation of 2,973 bricks at the Morris County Sept. 11 Memorial that will be engraved with the names of those killed in the terrorist attacks. The memorial, on West Hanover Avenue in Parsippany, already displays plaques etched with the names of the 64 Morris County residents killed on Sept. 11. The foundation aspires to commemorate everyone who lost their lives in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. that day by permanently engraving their names on brick pavers that will be placed in three rows around the circular memorial. "This is the next step. It was felt very strongly by the members of the foundation that somewhere, somehow, the names of all those who perished at the three sites that day should be there," said Patricia Maynard, chairwoman of the Morris County foundation. The foundation is asking the public to participate in the "Buy a Brick" campaign to help offset the projected $150,000 cost of the memorial's enhancement. Maynard said the $25 cost of each bricks will help pay for the brick itself as well as the cost of preparing the ground for its installation. "When the memorial was first created, contributions came from all sources in Morris County," Morris County Freeholder Jack J. Schrier said. "We've come a long way toward the sense that people now have that this is Morris County's memorial, and it gives you a stronger connection to the memorial, the victims and the events of Sept. 11." Schrier explained that many local residents had family members who didn't live in the county but died in the attacks. A former freeholder and Port Authority retiree, Maynard said she worked in the World Trade Center's Tower One for 14 years. "I lost friends that day, but none were from Morris County. A foundation member's beloved friend was a stewardess on that flight, but she didn't live in Morris County," she said. "We all have different memories of the people who passed, whether they were a firefighter, policeman or a co-worker. But none of that matters -- just the names." The original plans for the memorial were drawn by James Howard, a design professor at the County College of Morris, along with three of his students. The plans call for the planting of flowering trees and shrubs. The foundation also intends to establish a dedicated exit and erect an "enclosed contemplation" pavilion at the memorial. "On this site, there will be shelves where people can leave messages or pictures. People have left a lot of things at the memorial, and some were being affected by the weather," Maynard said. "We have collected those items and they are being preserved -- just waiting for a place where they can be displayed." The county completed much of the preliminary work for the building of the memorial. The site was originally chosen because the World Trade Center could be viewed from there, and today the memorial features three pieces of steel from the World Trade Center's Tower Two that visitors can touch as they walk around the memorial. Dedicated by the Morris County Freeholders in 2003, the memorial also includes remnants of United Airlines Flight 93 that was hijacked and crashed in Shanksville, Pa., and soil from the Pentagon, the site of the crash of hijacked American Flight 77. "It has been a great project for my students and myself,"Howard said. "The brick component came after brainstorming multiple ways to represent all of those who perished on that fateful day. The bricks seemed logical, (because) the names needed to be an integral part of the memorial." He said that the plaques with the names of Morris County residents will remain a central element of the site, and those names will be included on the bricks. Jennifer L. Nelson can be reached at 973-428-6633 or at jlnelson@gannett.com Copyright © 2006 The Daily Record
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