Projo Politics Blog

Journal photo/ Kathy Borchers
Donnalee Charette, whose son Mark Charette died in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and Governor Carcieri prepare to lay a wreath in front of a memorial at the State House on the seventh anniversary of the attacks.

PROVIDENCE -- After seven years, the tears still fell.

Dozens of families, state officials and national guardsman gathered at the State House on this, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 to commemorate those who died.

"Today we honor the memory of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors taken from us," Governor Carcieri said in his remarks. "They live in our hearts and our memories."

Carcieri then joined Donnalee Charette, who lost her son in the World Trade Center, to lay a single yellow wreath at the foot of the state's Sept. 11 memorial, two encased towers of yellow glass. The simple gesture has become an annual tradition like so many others across the country.

Charette's son, Mark, was a Warwick native and a senior vice president with Marsh & McLennan Companies. He was on the 100th floor of the World Trade Center for a business meeting that day.

As the pair stood before the memorial today, fourth graders from Smithfield's William Winsor Elementary School looked on, their faces solemn. These children were just toddlers at the time of the attacks.

The faint sound of fire trucks passing in the background as they did that morning.

"It's hard to believe," the governor said, "that seven years have passed."

 Tags  Donalee Charette Governor Carcieri Mark Charette Sept. 11 State House

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