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Guest Column
Jim and Janet Gray
Park fitting site for county’s 9/11 memorial

On Sept. 11, 2001, our son Christopher was killed during the attack on the World Trade Center. He was 32 years old, engaged to be married, and had been working as a foreign currency trader at Cantor Fitzgerald for two years. Since that terrible event, we have been working on the 9/11 Monmouth County Volunteer Memorial Committee to establish a memorial to honor all of the victims from Monmouth County in a solemn, reverent and peaceful setting.

The memorial will honor the 169 victims from many communities who were either living in Monmouth County at the time of the attack, raised in Monmouth County or born in Monmouth County. We are looking forward to the unveiling of the memorial on Sept. 11, 2004, the third anniversary of the attack. The county has provided the site for the memorial on Mount Mitchill, a county park in Atlantic Highlands.

We are especially pleased that the site is in one of the county parks, with a wonderful view of Sandy Hook and the Raritan Bay. Chris was born in Manalapan and, like so many of Monmouth County’s sons and daughters the memorial will honor, grew up playing sports in county parks and swimming at its beaches. In addition, we feel it is fitting that Mount Mitchill — the highest point on the east coast south of Maine — looks directly across to lower Manhattan where the World Trade Center once stood.

A design has been chosen, and the 9/11 volunteer memorial committee is finalizing plans to improve the entire Mount Mitchill area. This effort will include an interpretive walkway leading to the memorial, storyboards to inform visitors of the events of 9/11, an area for reflection, and the actual memorial.

The design for the memorial consists of a marble base with an etching of the county. The names of all the victims from Monmouth County will be inscribed on the base. An eagle lifting one of the beams recovered from the World Trade Center will be carrying the beam to heaven.

We are grateful to the county for providing $450,000 toward the project.

During the next year, we and other members of the committee will be working hard to raise the additional $850,000 needed to complete the Monmouth County Memorial.

On behalf of the committee and all of the families who lost loved ones on 9/11, we are requesting your support.

Please help us make the Monmouth County Memorial a reality with your contribution.

For more information about the memorial, visit our Web site: www.monmouthcounty911memorial.com.

Jim and Janet Gray are residents of Manalapan