By Zichang Liu
Boston University News Service
On the 23rd anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, memories of the terrorist attack came silently at 8:30 A.M. on the front steps of Massachusetts State House in Beacon Hill.
Passersby stopped and observed a moment of silence at 8:46 A.M., which was the exact historical moment when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Mayor Michelle Wu took turns reading the names of victims, paying tribute to the 206 victims from Massachusetts who were among the nearly 3,000 victims who lost their lives 23 years ago.
As the reading came to an end, a formal commemoration was held inside the Massachusetts House of Representatives Chamber for the presentation of the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery, named after the Acton flight attendant who crucially alerted the onboard crews in one of the hijacked planes – American Airlines Flight 11.
Jilian Smith was the recipient of the award this year for rescuing a neighbor in Wales, Mass. last December. She ran into the burning home twice after putting her newborn infant down for a nap.
After soft, intermittent quiet sighs and stifled sobs from those mourning their loved ones, people left the chamber with lasting consolation.
Diana Hunt, a Boston native who lost her 32-year-old son William Christopher Hunt, was emotional while expressing her grief from her loss.
“He was a wonderful redheaded young man,” Hunt said, her voice trembling as tears welled up in her eyes. “In my heart, being his mom, I loved him dearly. I never want anybody to forget him.”
Following the commemoration, the wreath laying ceremony took place at Boston Public Garden at 1:30 P.M. As the sunlight shone on the green and the pond on a sunny afternoon, residents walked by and laid wreaths for the lost ones.
Even miles away from New York, the pain of 9/11 brought people together in shared grief.
Charles Eostell, a 33-year-old Boston resident, said he felt hurt as someone whose parents were in Manhattan that day, as he was only a 9-year-old in elementary school in Cambridge. He said he was both relieved and concerned after picking up the calls from his parents that day.
Near the entrance of Boston Public Garden, he was standing in front of the wreaths, staring at the names by the gravestones, gasping and sighing constantly.
“I feel more emotional to them,” Eostell said.
Louise Robertson, a 66-year-old Boston resident and former employee in the Financial District, recalled her vivid-as-yesterday memory of Sept. 11, 2001, saying she was told to get back home from work at 11:30 A.M., without knowing what had happened.
When Robertson went on the MBTA Orange Line, she noticed an unusual mad rush in the train station at a typically quiet hour. She recalled how her family gathered around the television, watching in disbelief as the towers collapsed.
“Life never was normal,” Robertson said with her voice broken. “But we bounce back even greater.”