September 19, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 9 Glen Rock Officials mark 9/11 at informal press conference by John Koster Glen Rock’s decision not to hold a formal borough-wide ceremony on Sept. 11 was a matter of record, but some officials -- especially those who had been most active in the family relief and grief counseling after the 2001 terrorist attack -- met with media personnel at the Glen Rock Monument in an informal assembly of those who remembered. Glen Rock Mayor John van Keuren, The Reverend Doctor Allen Janssen of Glen Rock Community Church, Glen Rock Chamber of Commerce President Pam Wolak, Board of Education Trustee Sheldon Hirschberg and his wife Diane, and former council member Brad Jordan were among those who turned out in the mid-afternoon to answer questions from a number of TV and radio reporters about Glen Rock’s decision not to convoke a formal ceremony in memory of the 11 residents and the national and international victims of the attack. Mayor van Keuren echoed the words of Jon Cole, a trustee of GRACE (the Glen Rock Assistance Council & Endowment), explaining that he felt it was time to move on to more informal and personal ways of dealing with the grief and shock. At previous gatherings toward dusk over the past 10 years, people who remembered the horror and confusion of 9/11 spoke of narrow escapes, rage, and immense sorrow. Those who had lost spouses or other relatives prayed and mourned at the monument, and hundreds of people crowded onto Main Above: Diane Hirschberg and Brad Jordan talk with reporters. Right: Mayor John van Keuren and the Reverend Doctor Allen Janssen visit the 9/11 monument. Street. “We felt it was time to move back from a formal observance to something less organized and allow healing to take place,” Mayor van Keuren said last week. “This year, the trustees begin a transition toward empowering you, the citizens of town, to observe a more personal commemorative experience,” Cole had said. “You will see when you visit the memorial that day that we have not left the story untold, lest the lessons be forgotten.” Wolak, who is also a member of GRACE, had helped see that the individual plaques with the names of local victims and the stark, graceful monument were decorated with fresh flowers. She said individuals and small groups of people had come through- out the beautiful early autumn day to honor the victims. Glen Rock’s losses on a per capita basis were the highest in northwest Bergen County. While Ridgewood lost 12 residents in the attack, the village has twice the population of Glen Rock. Wyckoff, which also lost 11 residents, held an evening ceremony at the fire house behind Wyckoff Town Hall. A quiet commemoration with Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn speaking at Mount Carmel Church and an exhibit at the Ridgewood Library marked the anniversary in Ridgewood. Immediately following the attack, local volunteers comforted the grieving and arranged for short-term financial assistance and food for bereft families.