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POUGHKEEPSIE – A series of 9/11 memorial services were held in Poughkeepsie on Friday to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States.
Former Mayor Colette Lafuente returned to City Hall for a ceremony in front of the sculpture of twisted steel from the WTC. Lafuente served as mayor from 1996-2003 and was working on the day of the attacks. On September 11, 2001, her husband Juan perished in the North Tower of the WTC.
Lafuente called the ceremony very important. “I take it very personally since Al Qaeda killed my husband of 37 years and the father of our four daughters, Juan Lafuente.”
She recounted Juan’s journey to become a US citizen, because he was born and raised in Cuba. “Juan loved the United States with its freedoms and opportunities but he never lived to see his grandsons or experience the slower life of retirement,” Lafuente said as she took aim at terrorists. “Afghanistan is now the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan – a terrorist super state of Al Qaeda, Taliban, Isis K, and other terrorists,” she said, calling them a bigger threat than they were 20 years ago.
Lafuente read the names of the 13 members of the US Armed Forces who recently perished in Afghanistan.
Current Mayor Rob Rolison touted Lafuente’s passion and endurance while leading the city during the tragedies that included the death of her spouse. “Colette kept the city together during those dark days,” he told Mid-Hudson News. “She was mourning the death of her husband but had the strength to keep Poughkeepsie going.”
Mayor Collette Lafuente remembers that fateful day that claimed thousands of lives including her husband, Juan
The Dutchess County service was held at 8:30 a.m. on the steps of the Dutchess County Family Court on Market Street. Family Court Judge Tracy MacKenzie was the master of ceremonies that included remarks from County Executive Marc Molinaro and John Cahill, chancellor of the New York Archdiocese.
Molinaro recalled how his grandfather, a veteran of the US Army, passed down stories about the attacks on Pearl Harbor and how he used those memories to explain to his children the events of 9/11. “It has been 20 long years. America has been built and rebuilt again. Stories have been told and re-told,” he said to the crowd of elected officials, county workers, and residents paying their respects.
At 9 a.m., members of the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office gathered at the Law Enforcement Center, along with elected officials, first responders, and new recruits currently attending the county police academy. With members of law enforcement standing at parade rest, Undersheriff Kirk Imperati said, “When we sit down and talk about that day as a group; law enforcement, EMS, fire personnel, it’s amazing how fast 20 years has gone by,” said the agency’s second-in-command. Reciting the words of Sheriff Butch Anderson, Imperati added, “You take positives out of negatives and you try to look upon what happened as a result of those attacks on our soil,” noting that it brought about unity. “In the time since, some of that unity has faded and we must never forget.”
The City of Poughkeepsie Firefighters union, IAFF Local 596, represented by Captain Stephen Sutka, presented Rolison with a plaque honoring the 343 FDNY firefighters who perished on 9/11, along with 2,643 others, calling it a “Horrific day that we may never forget.”
NEWS STORY PROVIDED BY: Mid Hudson News -www.midhudsonnews.com