17 years after 9/11 attacks, families still grieve at ground zero


On the 17th anniversary of the attacks family, friends and uniformed personnel came to the 911 Memorial to honor those whose lives were lost that day. Chris Pedota, NorthJersey
NEW YORK – For 15 years, Tom and JoAnn Meehan never missed a reading of their daughter Colleen Barkow’s name at ground zero.

Every year they would make the trek from Toms River, New Jersey, where Barkow is buried, to the site where she took her last breath to hear her name during the annual Sept. 11 commemoration ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial plaza in lower Manhattan.

Sometimes JoAnn Meehan said it: “Colleen Ann Barkow.”

Sometimes Daryl Meehan, the Meehans’ son, said it: “Colleen Ann Barkow.”

Tom Meehan wants it said forever.

“A veterans’ organization once said, ‘A person dies twice: once when they physically leave the world and another when their name is said for the last time,’ ” he said. “That’s why it’s so important that this goes on.”

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