NEVER FORGET
City honors those lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Shawn J. Patrick lost his brother on Sept. 11, 2001.
An employee at Cantor Fitzgerald, James Matthew Patrick worked on the 105th floor at the World Trade Center.
On the 17th anniversary of that dreary day, Shawn Patrick, a Latham resident, spoke at the city’s remembrance ceremony at High Rock Park on Tuesday morning. Shawn Patrick spoke about his brother, the power of the human spirit and about never forgetting the people killed in the terrorist attacks on that Tuesday nearly two decades ago.
“Compared to me as the oldest brother, and even our middle brother Kevin, James was much more gregarious and lived every day in the moment,” said Shawn Patrick. “He enjoyed each and every day to the fullest and his energy, passion and enthusiasm for life resonated everywhere he went”
The city remembers the attacks each year at the Tempered by Memory sculpture in High Rock Park. Comprised of five pieces of twisted steel from the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Tempered by Memory sculpture was created by Noah Savitz in collaboration with John Van Alstine. The rain forced the ceremony underneath the pavilion.
Commander Christopher J. Tejeda, Commanding Officer of the US Naval Support Ac-
tivity in Saratoga Springs, served as the master of ceremony. Dozens stationed at Navy Support Activity joined Tejeda on Tuesday.
The ceremony featured a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., symbolizing the first plane hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Subsequent moments of silence followed.
Shawn Patrick, as keynote speaker, thanked the first responders, the doctors, the nurses, the military, the EMTs and everybody who made a difference.
During the difficult time following his brother’s death, Shawn Patrick noticed a sense of community.
“When I think back to 9/11 and New York City and our country being brought to its knees, I do remember vividly communities all here in the Capital District and my neighborhood in particular coming together and united. We had not been in our neighborhood that long yet there were plenty of people that we had never even met Members of Saratoga Springs police and fire departments Tuesday. showing up at our doorstep, offering their condolences, a prayer, bringing a baked good, flowers or simply just letting us know that they care,” said Shawn Patrick. “These random acts of kindness were one small way to help us move on and get through such a dark time. From those ashes of 9/11 a sense of togetherness grew all throughout our great country.”
James Matthew Patrick’s wife Terilyn had their first child, Jack, on Oct. 31, 2001.
Jack was greeted after his birth with pictures illustrated by eight-year-old children in Ohio, because that’s where Shawn Patrick’s college roommate lived. His college roommate’s son and his son’s classmates created them.
“Quite a statement of the human spirit and random acts of kindness,” said Shawn Patrick.
Shawn Patrick referenced a movie he and his family watched recently called “The Miracle Season.” The movie tells the story of a star high school volleyball player who tragically died before her senior year of high school. Her school had won the Iowa state championship the prior year. Shawn Patrick explained the team, despite struggling at first, repeated as champions. He shared an important message discovered in the film.
“At one point in the movie, the coach and the father of the star are speaking and the father says everybody talks about the loss of his daughter, and rightly so, but he said nobody really thinks about what a gift those 17 years were that she lived,” said Shawn Patrick. “I would say the same exact thing about my brother James’s almost 31 years that he was with us. Every day was gift, and his energy and his passion and enthusiasm for life are a lesson that all of us can take away and should remember.”
Programs sat on chairs under the pavilion. It featured an order of events, including the Color Guard, made up of Saratoga Springs police and fire departments and the United States Navy, the National Anthem vocalist, Keri Alonzo, invocations done by the Rev. Thomas H. Chevalier and Chaplain Sid Gordon and songs sung by Rick and Sharon Bolton. On the bottom of the program read a quote by Sandy Dahl, wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl.
Shawn Patrick quoted her in closing.
“If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.”