Ridgefield Remembers Three Victims Of 9/11 With Town Ties

Reporting from Wendy Ann Mitchell was used in this story.

RIDGEFIELD, CT — Monday marks the anniversary of a day we will never forget. The 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is being remembered by all across the country. Many across Connecticut will gather in cities and towns to remember the nearly 3,000 lives lost when terrorists crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

With heavy hearts, residents also mourn 161 victims with ties to Connecticut who were killed on Sept. 11. The images of 9/11 remain seared into the memories of all Americans old enough to remember that fateful day, but particularly Connecticut natives, given the state's close proximity to New York City.

The town also mourns three with ties to Ridgefield who were killed during the tragedy.:

• Tyler Ugolyn, 23, Fred Alger Management, World Trade Center: One of the youngest victims, Tyler was a Columbia University graduate who began his dream job in the city as a research associate with Fred Alger Management Inc., in the World Trade Center. At 6-foot-4, he was a natural athlete who played basketball for Columbia. He helped start a youth basketball program in Harlem showing his heart and love of the youth and the game.
• Howard Joseph Heller Jr., 37, Managed Funds Expert, Carr Futures: Howard was working on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center in Tower 1 for Carr Futures on that tragic day. He and his wife Mary-Jean, and their four children, ages 8, 6, 4 and 16 months at the time, lived in a quaint yellow farmhouse in Ridgefield that he fixed up and restored himself.
• Robert Higley, II, 29, Client Services, Aon Corp.: Robert was working in the World Trade Center in Tower 2 on that tragic day. Rob moved to Ridgefield when he was 4 and later moved when he was 8-years-old. He kept three dear Ridgefield friends said his wife, Vycki Higley. They are godfathers to his daughters, Amanda and Robyn Elizabeth, who was born on Nov. 3.

The state's official 9/11 memorial ceremony was held on Thursday, Sept. 7 at Sherwood Island state park in Westport. Prior to the attacks, the World Trade Center was visible from the park, and state officials thought it fitting to erect a permanent 9/11 memorial at the point at the park. (To receive free news alerts from your hometown in Connecticut click here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

The inscription reads, "The citizens of Connecticut dedicate this living memorial to the thousands of innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001 and to the families who loved them." When a viewer faces the inscription on the memorial stone they are oriented across the Sound to the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City.

Thousands of motorcycle riders also gathered Sunday for the Connecticut United ride, the state's largest 9/11 memorial. The ride started in Norwalk at Norden Park; traveling through Westport, Wilton, Georgetown, Redding, Bethel, Monroe, Trumbull, Fairfield and ending at Seaside Park in Bridgeport.

According to the Office of the Governor, there are 161 victims in 9/11 who had ties to Connecticut.

See also: How Do You Teach 9/11 to Kids Who Didn't Experience It? A Patch Investigation

Here is the full list of victims with ties to Connecticut as provided by the Office of the Governor:

• Laurence Abel
• Bryan C. Bennett
• Jeffrey D. Bittner
• Christopher J. Blackwell, FDNY
• Allen Patrick Boyle
• Alexander Braginsky
• Francis Henry (Frank) Brennan
• Thomas M. Brennan
• Joseph M. Calandrillo
• Edward Calderon
• Sandra Campbell
• Alejandro Castano
• Juan Ceballos
• Stephen P. Cherry
• Kevin F. Cleary, Esq.
• Geoffrey W. Cloud
• Keith Eugene Coleman
• Scott Thomas Coleman
• Margaret Conner
• Kevin P. Connors
• Joseph John Coppo
• Dolores Costa
• Brian Thomas Cummins
• Paul Curioli
• Patrick Danahy
• Anthony Demas
• Lt. Kevin Donnelly, FDNY
• John Bruce Eagleson
• Michael Egan
• Ulf Ramm Ericson
• Eric B. Evans
• Wendy R. Faulkner
• Edward T. Fergus, Jr.
• Bradley Fetchet
• Paul M. Fiori
• John Fiorito
• Bennett Lawson Fisher
• Peter C. Fry
• Richard Peter Gabriel, Sr.
• Richard S. Gabrielle
• James A. Gadiel
• Thomas E. Galvin
• Osseni Mama Garba
• Christopher Samuel Gardner
• Peter Alan Gay
• Peter Gerard Gelinas
• Robert Gerlich
• Lawrence Getzfred
• Evan Hunter Gillette
• Ronald Gilligan
• Steven Lawrence Glick
• Wilder A. Gomez
• Kiran Kumar Reddy Gopu
• Edwin J. Graf, III
• Donald F. Greene
• James A. Greenleaf, Jr.
• Pedro Grehan
• James D. Halvorson
• Sean S. Hanley
• Christine Lee Hanson
• Peter Burton Hanson
• Sue Kim Hanson
• Timothy John Hargrave
• Michele Heidenberger
• H. Joseph Heller
• John Henwood
• Robert Higley, II
• James J. Hobin
• Judith Florence Hofmiller
• Paul R. Hughes
• William Christopher Hunt
• Thomas Edward Hynes
• John F. Iskyan
• Ariel Louis Jacobs
• Michael Grady Jacobs
• Mark Steven Jardim
• Robert Thomas Jordan
• Richard M. Keane
• Peter R. Kellerman
• Maurice Patrick Kelly
• William Hill Kelly, Jr.
• Amy King
• Glenn Davis Kirwin
• Stephen LaMantia
• Gary E. Lasko
• Robert A. Lawrence, Jr.
• Joseph A. Lenihan
• Adam J. Lewis
• Steven B. Lillianthal
• Garry W. Lozier
• Michael J. Lyons
• Edward "Teddy" F. Maloney
• Ada Mason
• Kevin Michael McCarthy
• Juliana McCourt
• Ruth McCourt
• Eamon McEneaney
• Michael G. McGinty
• Francis McGuinn
• William J. Meehan, Jr.
• Eskedar Melaku
• Raymond Joseph Metz, III
• Joel Miller
• Michael M. Miller
• Cheryl Ann Monyak
• Lindsay S. Morehouse
• Jude Moussa
• Cesar A. Murillo
• Christopher William White Murphy
• Daniel Robert Nolan
• Robert W. Noonan
• Timothy M. O'Brien
• Scott J. O'Brien
• James Andrew O'Grady
• Christopher Orgielewicz
• Margaret Quinn Orloske
• Thomas Anthony Palazzo
• James Matthew Patrick
• Mike A. Pelletier
• Joshua Piver
• Roger Mark Rasweiler
• Jean Destrehan
• Roger Sean P. Rooney
• Michael C. Rothberg
• Jason E. Sabbag
• Jesus Sanchez
• Stacey Leigh Sanders
• Sean Schielke
• John B. Schwartz
• Randy Scott
• Barbara A. Shaw
• Michael John Simon
• Heather Lee Smith
• Dianne Bullis Snyder
• Gregory T. Spagnoletti
• George E. Spencer, III
• Derek J. Statkevicus
• Craig William Staub
• Andrew Stergiopoulos
• Madeline Sweeney
• Michael C. Tarrou
• Thomas F. Theurkauf, Jr.
• Eric Raymond Thorpe
• Amy E. Toyen
• Tyler Ugolyn
• Jonathan J. Uman
• Allen V. Upton
• Bradley H. Vadas
• Edward Raymond Vanacore
• Frederick Varacchi
• James Thomas Waters, Jr.
• Jeffrey David Wiener
• Candace Lee Williams
• John P. Williamson
• William Eben Wilson
• David H. Winton
• Christopher W. Wodenshek
• Martin Phillips Wohlforth
• John Works
• Edward P. York
• Charles A. Zion

Reporting from RJ Scofield, Patch Staff was used in this story.

Image via the Twitter Accounts of Gov. Dannel Malloy