Sharon to mark 25th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks

SHARON — Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, the Sharon Fire Department will bring the community together to remember the victims, first responders, and families whose lives were forever changed that day.

The department will hold a community remembrance Friday, Sept. 11, at the Sharon firehouse, 36 West Main St. An open house will begin at 4 p.m. with a firetruck display and activities for children.

The memorial program will begin at 5 p.m. Fire Chief Brian Moore will welcome those attending, followed by a prayer from the Rev. Dr. Anna Crews Camphouse of Sharon United Methodist Church and a recitation of the Fireman’s Prayer.

Former Fire Chief Tom Bartram will lead a two-minute silence. Remarks will be offered by former Fire Chief Todd Anderson and Brian Ross, the veteran investigative journalist who worked at ABC News and is on the LJMN board, which oversees The Lakeville Journal.

Residents have been invited to submit written remembrances of Sept. 11. The Sharon Historical Society will preserve the accounts, creating a local record of how the community remembers the attacks and their immediate aftermath.

The event will be held rain or shine and is open to all.

The Sharon observance is among ceremonies planned across Connecticut to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93.

Of the 2,977 people killed in the attacks, 161 lived in or had ties to Connecticut, according to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office. Their names are engraved on the state’s 9/11 memorial at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport.

At least 14 victims had connections to the greater Litchfield County area, according to a 2006 Connecticut Insider retrospective. The publication used a broad regional definition that included current and former residents, part-time residents, graduates of local schools, and people whose families lived in the area.

Among them was James Gadiel, 23, a Kent native and graduate of Kent Center School and Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Gadiel worked for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower.

A memorial outside Kent Town Hall honors Gadiel and the other victims of the attacks. The town will hold a commemorative service at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 11 at Town Hall, 41 Kent Green Blvd., according to the town’s official calendar.

Christoffer M. Carstanjen, who grew up in Sharon, was also killed. A 1981 graduate of Sharon Center School and a 1985 graduate of Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Carstanjen was working as a computer specialist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst at the time of his death. He was a passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center’s South Tower.

Susan Getzendanner, 58, a vice president at Fiduciary Trust Co., was a part-time Salisbury resident who spent time at a cottage on Mount Riga. She was killed in the World Trade Center.

Two graduates of The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, David M. Berray, 39, and Todd Pitman, 30, also died at the World Trade Center.

Other victims identified by Connecticut Insider had ties to Goshen, Litchfield, Winsted, and Woodbury.