Sept. 11, 2026, marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that forever changed America. In Rye, the impact was especially felt by the friends and families of the 16 people who were killed that day or died in the years that followed due to medical complications as a result of the attacks.
The ceremony is usually in front of the Rye firehouse, but to commemorate the 25th anniversary, it was held in front of the nearby Sept. 11 Memorial Gazebo, where the names of Rye’s victims are engraved alongside their signatures.
“On this 25th anniversary, I think it’s the point at which memories start to become part of history,” said Mayor Josh Nathan.
Nathan’s opening remarks were followed by a blessing from the Rev. Andrea Raynor, a Fire Department chaplain who spent eight months providing spiritual services in New York City after the attacks.
“Covered in ash, there was suddenly no separation by race or religion, by political beliefs or by our countries of origin,” Raynor said. “There was only a brother or sister in need.”
Raynor’s words echoed a sense of unity that Rye residents needed in the weeks after the attacks. State Assemblyman Steven Otis recalled how the community came together for candlelight vigils and funerals, some of which drew as many as 1,500 attendees at the time.
“They were stolen from our town, but not our hearts,” Otis said in reference to the victims.
That sense of community was also reflected in the experiences of those who were at Ground Zero. Westchester County Legislator Anant Nambiar shared an experience from that day working in Manhattan. His office was across the street from the Twin Towers, placing him in the center of the aftermath. In the chaos, cellphone towers failed, leaving him unable to reach his wife, who was pregnant at the time. In a moment of desperation, a complete stranger helped him find her.
“In moments of need, in moments of crisis, simple moments – we’re there for each other, and I see that today,” Nambiar said. “Thank you for your peace. Thank you for your remembrance.”
After Nambiar’s story, Nathan offered anyone in the crowd a chance to speak of their memories from that day, something that hadn’t been done before at previous ceremonies.
Brian Harper, director of the New York Blood Center, came forward and shared that in the week following Sept. 11, blood centers in New York and New Jersey had 23,000 donors, a number that triples what they typically received in other weeks.
Nathan then reflected on his own experiences, tearing up while sharing an anecdote from his time working at New York Public Media during the attacks. There, he heard the final broadcast of antenna engineer Rod Coppola. Coppola’s last words, “I’m still broadcasting,” showed Nathan the true spirit of America.
To conclude the ceremony, Robin Latimer sang “God Bless America,” and Rye firefighter Danny Archino read the names of the victims: Thomas Crotty, Benjamin Fisher, Yugi Goya, W. Ward Haynes, Takashi Kinoshita, Gary E. Koecheler, Teddy Maloney, Francis N. McGuinn, Robert McLaughlin, Jr., Christopher D. Mello, George W. Morell, Kevin Nolan, Sean Gordon O’Neill, Thomas A. Palazzo, Michael J. Simon and Allen V. Upton.
As the crowd of firefighters, Rye City Council members, and community members quietly dispersed into the evening, one visitor stayed at the gazebo.
Kristina Kotyza stood in front of Benjamin Fisher’s plaque, holding a bouquet of flowers.
Kotyza was in kindergarten at Resurrection Grammar School in Rye when she had what she describes as a visceral memory of watching the towers fall on television as her teacher cried in the hallway. That teacher, Mrs. Fisher, was the wife of Benjamin Fisher, who died in the towers that day.
Kotyza’s parents were immigrants who fled communist Czechoslovakia, making English her second language and one she was still learning as a child. This made her early years at school difficult, but Mrs. Fisher always believed in her. Although Kotyza never personally knew Benjamin Fisher, the impact of his death on a teacher who meant so much to her compelled her to attend the ceremony and pay her respects.
“This country gave my family so much, so when that happened, it was just devastating,” she said. “It’s important to remember, no matter what problems we have in the country, to remember the people who gave their lives for it.”
