Castle Rock – People who might never have met otherwise – children too young to remember, a store clerk clutching a latte, a soldier in uniform, a workman in jeans and dirty boots – bowed their heads in silence Monday morning at each moment a World Trade Center tower crumbled five years ago.
A freight train blared its horn from the rails a half-mile to the west. Rush-hour traffic groaned on Interstate 25 three blocks away. A cyclist made the turn from Third Street onto Perry Street, glancing back at the crowd of almost 100 connected in remembrance at the Castle Rock Fire Station.
“For many, 9/11 is a distant memory,” said Fire Chief Art Morales. “For many, life has never been the same.”
The ceremony was among several in the metro area Monday to mark the anniversary.
Civil War re-enactors played patriotic music in Golden, acupuncturists in Arvada offered free treatments to rescue personnel, and in Longmont firefighters and police officers shared a potluck dinner.
At lunchtime in Boulder, the University of Colorado law school dedicated a stone marker outside the new Wolf Law Building to honor the 10 alumni killed on 9/11.
Six of their family members led the signing of “God Bless America” as a smattering of rain began to fall.
Mike Faughnan, a graduate of Colorado State, had slipped on his brother’s CU ball cap. Chris Faughnan, a 1986 CU graduate, was on the 103rd floor of the North Tower, at work at Cantor Fitzgerald. His remains were never found.
Mike Faughnan remembered that he told people at a memorial service five years ago to teach kindness, generosity and tolerance to remember his brother, and “on Saturdays in the fall, can you cheer for the Colorado Buffaloes, this year a little more than usual.”
Monday he said: “Today is less about remembering the events of five years ago and more about celebrating the beautiful lives that were lost that day.”
His face was distorted as held back tears and laid a rose on the granite stone outside the law building.
He was comforted with a bear hug from Harry Jones, whose wife, Allison, a 1997 graduate, died on the 104th floor of the South Tower.
At the Castle Rock ceremony earlier in the morning, firefighter Chris McCarthy had tapped a bell to mark the passing of lives at the precise moments each tower fell five years earlier.
Other firefighters took turns reading the names of the 75 New York area fire stations that lost men who “answered their last alarm.”
Castle Rock Mayor Randy Reed recalled Sept. 11, 2001: “Every emotion I think I have, I went through that day.”
He hoped for the return of unity that followed the attacks.
“It showed what we were made of,” he said.
As Morales got permission to block off the street in front of the firehouse for Monday’s observance, he turned up an amazing collection of people connected directly to the events of 9/11.
One person knew someone who died in the World Trade Center. One knew someone who was on a highjacked plane. Another was supposed to be in the Twin Towers, but had a meeting across town.
The family of those touched was much larger, said the Rev. Dan Hettinger, pastor of Crossroads Community Church.
“We are all connected by the events” of 9/11, he said, “connected by our memories, connected by our sorrow.”
Denise Smith, who grew up in Castle Rock, brought her three children — Michelle, 5, Dylan, 3, and Cooper, 1. Her late father was a Denver firefighter for 30 years.
“I want my children to know that people died that day for a reason,” she said. “I want them to grow up knowing that heroes aren’t just on TV. That some people do things for people they don’t even know, even if it means their lives.
“To me, that’s what you call a hero, not a football player or a movie star.”
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
