Long Valley Resident And Others Lost On 9/11 Remembered In Special Online Tributes

LONG VALLEY, NJ — Within the week leading up to Sept. 11 and the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Washington Township officials have posted their remembrances online to ensure that those who died from Long Valley and other locations, will never be forgotten.

Washington Township Mayor Matt Murello offered a virtual tour leading up to the 20th anniversary of the attacks, of 9/11 monuments in Morris County and other parts of New Jersey.

As part of his tribute with the Morris County Sept. 11th Memorial on West Hanover Avenue in Parsippany, he mentioned that Long Valley residents may either attend an in-person remembrance at the memorial or virtually on the Morris County Government Facebook Page here, on Sunday Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.

At this event in particular, Debra Lynn Fischer Gibbon, who lived in Long Valley and was a member of the Presbyterian Church, will be remembered, as one of the many residents lost from Morris County at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. When she was killed in the attacks, Gibbon - a mother of three teenagers - was working that day at Aon Risk Services Inc. on the 105th floor of one of the towers, according to her obituary.

Murello said he plans to attend the service at the county’s memorial, with Rebecca Asaro the keynote speaker, who lost her father, New York Firefighter Carl Francis Asaro.

Murello virtually took visitors on a photo tour of other memorials in New Jersey, including his first, the Teardrop Memorial in Bayonne.

“For me, it’s difficult to wrap my head around the fact that our kids only see the events of that day on tv or discuss it in history class,” Murello said. “So when I was talking to my kids about 9/11 recently and the ceremonies this week, I had this idea for my page.”

Murello additionally featured the Somerset County 9/11 Memorial and Clock Tower as part of his online tribute.

The Liberty State Park memorial was Murello’s final focus, which faces where the World Trade Center has been and honors the 749 people from New Jersey who died that day.

“I find this one of the most touching memorials of the ones I have visited, mostly because of the direct view of the World Trade Center site,” Murello said.

Washington Township’s Police Department had their own tribute to everyone lost that day as well.

“Evil has no power over our nation,” the police department wrote.

“God bless all those that fight and make sacrifices for our freedoms as we remember all those that perished in the 9/11 attacks,” they also wrote. “America, the land that we love.”

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.