They gathered before dawn in churches and synagogues and mosques, praying together for peace.

Sept. 11, 2002 Photo Gallery

        They met in community centers and school auditoriums. They saluted flags, marched in parades and bowed their heads in silence.

        They held candles, and they held each other.

        At services large and small, public and private, Tristate residents came together Wednesday to remember the day their nation was transformed by the terrorist attacks of last Sept. 11.

        The ceremonies began at midnight with candlelight vigils and continued throughout the day with speeches, prayer services and spontaneous outbursts of patriotism and grief.

        The services began at midnight at the Hillel Jewish Center in University Heights, where students and others met to pray for the 3,000 lives lost in the attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

        For Mindy Kuhlman, the anniversary brought a first: tears. Overwhelmed as she took her turn reading the names of the dead, Ms. Kuhlman found herself crying for the first time about the terrorist attacks.

        “I'm sorry,” the Fort Mitchell resident told the audience. “There are just so many, just so many pages.”

        A few hours later, shortly after dawn, Pastor Henry Zorn confronted his own grief as he presided over services at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Anderson Township. Pastor Zorn lost a family member and a friend, both New York City firefighters, in the attack on the World Trade Center.

        “For me, the message today is continued prayers for peace, and just a reminder of how difficult it is for humanity to achieve peace,” Pastor Zorn said. “God is weeping over our world. And my message is, it doesn't have to be that way.”

        While Pastor Zorn spoke in Anderson Township, hundreds of students and alumni gathered at Covington Catholic High School to honor Brian Williams, a 1990 graduate who died in New York.

        Eighteen of the alumni who attended the ceremony are now serving as police officers, firefighters or in the military.

        “This seemed like the best place to remember the September 11 attacks,” said Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Matt Day, a 1999 Covington Catholic graduate.

        “It's good to be with people you care about on a day like this.”

        At another prayer service, this one in West Chester, Sohaib Khan prayed with fellow Muslims, as well as Christians and Jews. His hope was to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks by teaching others about his religion and learning about theirs.

        He said the attacks, carried out by Islamic extremists, have given all Muslims a bad name.

        “These people who did their heinous crime didn't know what faith was all about,” Mr. Khan said.

        A less formal service was held about an hour later, at 10:26 a.m., in the offices of Aon Risk Services in Cincinnati.

        Aon Corp. lost 175 employees in the terrorist attacks, three of whom had Cincinnati ties. Their co-workers formed a circle in a conference room, lit a candle and shared a moment of silence in their memory.

        Then they held hands and sang “Amazing Grace.”

        Tom Purtell, Aon's senior vice president, said the three Cincinnatians who died — Cathy Salter, Wendy Faulkner and Doug Cherry — were known for their kindness and good works in the community. He asked those gathered around him Wednesday to honor their lives by continuing their work.

        Some felt they could honor those who lost their lives — and symbolically fight the terrorists — by going about their daily routines.

        Steve Crain, a Blue Ash native who lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., was at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on Wednesday morning, heading home after a business trip.

        On a day many were reluctant to fly, Mr. Crain actually moved up his scheduled departure date to Wednesday morning.

        “And I'm paying $100 for it,” said Mr. Crain as the clock hit 8:50 a.m., just minutes after the one-year anniversary of when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

        “This is an in-your-face kind of thing,” he said. “I'm not going to let them dictate how I travel. If I do that, they get what they wanted.”

        In Indian Hill, a dozen area firefighters and their instructors collapsed a building Wednesday, then practiced rescue techniques and building stabilization in a drill.

        The group fell quiet at 10:05 a.m. Power tools were shut off. Firefighters removed their hard hats and gathered around each other. Some lowered their heads; others folded their hands. For a long minute, there wasn't a sound.

        The irony of such training on the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11 was not lost on Blue Ash firefighter/paramedic Jack Smith.

        “But what better way to commemorate it?” Mr. Smith asked. “We're memorializing them by continuing to prepare ourselves to handle these types of disasters.”

        At the Cincinnati firefighters memorial, dozens gathered for a service honoring the 343 New York firefighters who died at the World Trade Center. Cincinnati firefighters placed 343 white crosses and 343 pairs of boots to honor their dead comrades. Throughout the day, people stopped by the memorial to pray, leave flowers or thank the firefighters watching over the display.

        A similar expression of appreciation came later that afternoon, across the river at the Behle Street restaurant in Fort Mitchell.

        Restaurant owner Tommy Behle interrupted lunch by asking his patrons to stand for a moment of silence.

        Then, he led them in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

        “We have to do something to remember,” Mr. Behle said. “That's the least we can do, to remember and honor those who died.”

        Contributing: John Eckberg, Jane Prendergast, David Eck, James Pilcher, Jim Hannah, Kristina Goetz, Pat Crowley, Jennifer Edwards and Tom O'Neill.

Patients lose emergency help
Vigils in Tristate punctuated by patriotism, grief
A walk of peace
Cincinnati Firefighters Memorial
Fairfield
Fifth Third Bank
Hero's welcome 1 year removed from WTC rubble
Hillel Jewish Student Center
New flags hearten town hit by vandals
Newport
The lessons of 9-11
Trail of tears for fallen comrades
Union, Ky.
Walnut Hills
West Chester Township
Norwood levy passed in May certified
P&G endorses light rail plans
Report on police not conclusive
Theodore Berry sculpture unveiled
Tristate A.M. Report
HOWARD: Some Good News
KORTE: City Hall
PULFER: The grandchild
RADEL: The 9-11 generation
Pisgah merchants leery of proposal
Recreation center hinges on levy
Sex abuse case may be refiled
Shopping center wins OK
Theme of school grant: to seem smaller
EPA gives bleak report of Ohio's rivers, streams
County to get back about $40K
Executive donates 43 acres to Boone Co. for river park
Kentucky News Briefs
Newport taxes fall once again
Rezoning OK'd over objections
Turfway readies for Kentucky Cup Saturday