Community invited to remember Sept. 11, 2001
COSHOCTON – The public is invited to attend two community events that will be in remembrance of Sept. 11, 2001. Brad Collmar will host a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 9 at 12:05 p.m. on the Coshocton County Courtsquare lawn. Collmar has been having Sept. 11 memorial services since 2002. At the time of the attacks, Collmar was a commander with the American Legion and the national legion sent information on how to conduct a proper memorial service.
“I was a welder in Millersburg at the time,” said Collmar. “The guys were always joking around and that day, my supervisor came and told us that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. We didn’t think much of it and thought he was joking, and then when he told us the second tower had been hit, I said, okay stop joking around. He took me in to his office and showed me on the TV.”
Collmar has been conducting memorial services every five years since the attacks. This year, they will be recognizing local first responders, veterans, and military personnel. The keynote speaker will be Jeff Corder, retired safety service director, and the emcee will be Ken Smailes. The Coshocton High School band will be present to perform patriotic pieces.
Collmar, who has family in the military and has also served, hopes that Sept. 11 will be remembered for years to come.
“Pearl Harbor was our first attack, and now it’s just another day on the calendar for most people,” he said.
The Coshocton Nazarene Church will also give the public an opportunity to remember that day. On Sunday, Sept. 11, the church service at 10:45 a.m. will be dedicated to honoring our local first responders. A dinner in honor of police, fire, and EMS will be served after the service.
“We have a number of police officers in our church and they do so much for us,” said Pastor Dave Boots. “It’s a thankless job.”
A representative from the county commissioners and the mayor will read a proclamation during the worship service. They will also honor the Danville police officer Thomas Cottrell who was killed in action last January.
The public is welcome to attend the service or listen to it live on WTNS radio.
“It was one of those things that you were nailed to the TV for the rest of the day,” said Boots. “The church I was in at the time had special services all day so if people wanted to talk with Jesus about what they were seeing on TV or ask me questions, they could.”
The Coshocton Christian School is also having a memorial service on Friday, Sept. 9 for students only.
“It will be a spiritual emphasis on what the day means to us individually and as a nation,” said Principal Stan Zurowski.
Zurowski said they have a variety of activities planned, one program planned for kids kindergarten through sixth grade and one for students in junior high and high school.
The event will feature a time for prayer, videos from the day of the attacks, and songs from popular music artists.
“It’s a combination of remembering Sept. 11 and with coming into the presidential election and what this country means to us,” said Zurowski.
Category: People & Places
