'Day of Remembrance' ends with roses set afloat

By JEN CALANTONE • jcalantone@news-press.com • September 12, 2010
 
Retired American Airlines flight attendant Ruth McConnell and husband, retired United Airlines pilot Francis McConnell, remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks during a ceremony held Saturday at Rum Runners in Cape Coral. (Sarah Coward/news-press.com)

1:10 A.M. — “Please, keep the memory alive.”

That is what Lt. Randy Kraus urged Saturday, nine years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Kraus, a former New York City paramedic and a lieutenant with the Fort Myers Beach Fire Department, was one of the speakers at the third “Day of Remembrance” ceremony at Rumrunners in Cape Coral. The event sought to honor those whose lives were lost or effected by the events of 9/11.

“Whenever this week comes around, it feels like yesterday,” he said. “I lost a lot of friends that day.”

Law enforcement, public safety workers, flight crew members and others gathered to listen to each other’s stories and pray for those who died that day.

Organized by retired American Airlines crew member Sharee McClellan-Thieleman and the Suncoast chapter of the American Airlines Kiwi Club, the Day of Remembrance ceremony featured a host of speakers — many of whom were working in New York City or Virginia when the Twin Towers and Pentagon were attacked.
It initially began to honor the flight crew members who were killed on 9/11, said Kathy Kuzminski, spokeswoman for the event.

American and United airlines lost 33 crew members that day.
But the event grew to include and honor public safety workers as well, said Heather Magalhaes, a flight attendant who helped organize the first memorial ceremony.

“The people we lost need to be recognized,” Magalhaes said. “And this is such a gorgeous setting.”

With taps playing in the background, those in attendance were welcomed to take a white rose and toss it into the Rumrunners’ waterfront to commemorate those who died.

White roses represent the innocence and purity of those who were killed, said Sandy Pagden-Gribaudo, a retired American Airlines flight attendant.

Onlookers watched quietly as the roses were dropped into the water and eight boats from local police and fire departments and the Coast Guard circled the waterfront.