Bernardsville Honors Those Lost in 9/11 at Library Ceremony

Bernardsville Mayor Lee Honecker said he didn't actually know the two borough residents who were killed in the terrorist attacks in lower Manhattan on 9/11 in 2001, but he noted he felt like he knew something about them from attending ceremonies that recall them each year.

Speakers at the brief ceremony held on Wednesday evening at the flagpole behind the Bernardsville Library highlighted some of the attributes of the two residents.

Alison Horstmann Jones, who was 31 in 2001, went to Bedwell Elementary School and continued on to graduate from Bernards High. She was described as "gifted and determined," and a lover of hiking, biking and other athletic activities. Her husband was a neighbor of hers from Bernardsville, according to the biography read at the ceremony.

Thomas Reinig, who was 48, and had started working for Cantor Fitzgerald in May 2001, grew up in Bergenfield, his biography said. He enjoyed skiing, and climbing the Grand Tetons. He is missed by his wife, Jeannie, and his sons, Scott and Chris. Scott and his wife recently had a baby that would have been Reinig's first grandchild, according to the biography.

Poetry read at the service harkened to the larger occasion, that resulted in the death of more than 3,000 people when the twin towers collapsed that day after being hit by terrorist-flown planes. "If we want a better world, then we have to be better ourselves," Honecker said.

Although low key, the ceremony still was emotional, perhaps at its most when local singer Michaela Glynn performed "America the Beautiful."

Along with officials and library staff, residents and friends and family gathered by the flagpole, which is near a memorial for 9/11.

Trevor Silva, a senior at Bernards High School, played "Taps" on his trumpet to conclude the event.