New York Ceremony Logistics Finalized
SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - One by one, 2,801 victims' names will be read aloud. To the mother of the man whose name is first on the list, the tragic recitation will bring home to listeners the magnitude of the World Trade Center disaster.
Mary Aamoth of Minneapolis, mother of Gordy Aamoth, said she and her husband, Gordon, will be watching on television Wednesday as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani reads their son's name at the ceremony marking the anniversary of the terror attacks.
``I'm very pleased and impressed with how dignified, solemn and appropriate the service appears to be,'' Aamoth said. Her 32-year-old son worked at Sandler O'Neill & Partners on the 104th floor of the south tower.
Giuliani was scheduled to lead a parade of dignitaries reading the victims' names in alphabetical order. Others include Secretary of State Colin Powell, actor Robert De Niro and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The program is to begin and end with moments of silence at 8:46 a.m. - when the first plane hit - and just before 10:30 a.m., when the second tower collapsed.
After the first moment of silence, Gov. George Pataki will read from the Gettysburg Address, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg will introduce the reading of the names.
The last name on the list will be that of Igor Zukelman, 29, of New York, who worked at Fiduciary Trust Company International.
The ceremony will conclude with a reading from the Declaration of Independence by New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey.
Bloomberg said the two historical addresses are relevant in observing the anniversary. The Gettysburg Address ``talks about hallowed ground, it talks of the continuity that's America. Everything that Abraham Lincoln talked about is still true today.''
The recitation of the names will pause for readings by family members at 9:03 a.m., when the second plane struck, and 9:59 a.m., when the first tower fell. Ed Skyler, a spokesman for Bloomberg, said the passages to be read have not been decided.
Many of the 197 people scheduled to read names lost loved ones in the attacks, such as Christy Ferer, the widow of Port Authority director Neil Levin; and Melissa Ielpi, sister of slain firefighter Jonathan Ielpi.
Relatives of victims who worked for companies that suffered heavy losses, such as Cantor Fitzgerald and Aon Corp., will read many names. Each reader will recite about 14 names.
Some survivors of the attacks also were scheduled to join the ceremony, like Anne Foodim, of Fiduciary Trust; and a reader representing the airlines, Stephen Forte, chief pilot of United Airlines.
The order of readers was finalized over the weekend, according to Jennifer Falk, a spokeswoman for Bloomberg. Victims' family members who submitted e-mail requests were chosen by lottery.
At about 9:04 a.m., families are invited to descend the ramp that extends into the seven-story pit, where they can pick up a rose and place it in a vase for an arrangement that will be preserved for a permanent memorial.
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