LACKAWANNA COUNTY -- September 11th observances in northeastern Pennsylvania included a solemn ceremony at McDade park, a church service focused on first responders, and a roaring ride featuring hundreds of motorcycles.
Every September 11th, Kendra Lynn of Tunkhannock thinks of her brother Steven Tudor who was killed in Iraq in 2007.
Tudor was already in the Army when terrorists attacked 15 years ago, and she remembers him telling the family how he knew the attacks might provoke a war.
“That was one of the last times I saw my brother alive, and it seems like yesterday,” said Lynn.
A 9/11 ceremony in Scranton has become an annual tradition, the sort of ritual Rabbi Marjorie Berman believes is important for the community.
“To get them involved in thinking about why such a thing could happen, and what they could do personally to make the world a different place,” Berman said.
Another service at the Peckville Assembly of God included a procession with dozens of local police and firefighters. They received a rousing standing ovation from a grateful church.
“We just want to honor people and honor God,” said Mark Masters of Peckville.
In Jessup, the 15th anniversary of 9/11 coincided with an annual ride to honor Sgt. Jan Argonish, a soldier killed in Afghanistan.
That soldier’s father watched as nearly 400 vehicles rolled by. Michael Argonish says his son was so committed to the cause, he was learning the native language of Afghanistan before he was killed in 2007.
“He wanted to speak directly to them and not through interpreters, and that’s what he was doing,” said Argonish.
This year, the ride featured a wall with the story of 9/11. Many parents used it as a way to explain the history to the children born in the 15 years since that awful day.
“My daughter was just asking questions about what happened, and why it happened, and I just explained to her a little bit about the history,” Holly Roman of Tunkhannock said.
