Upper East Side To Mark 9/11 With Memorial Stones, Sunrise Event

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Though the twin towers stood about five miles south of the Upper East Side, the neighborhood was deeply affected by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

A firehouse on East 85th Street lost nine men. Neighborhood residents like Susan M. Getzendanner — a world traveler and student of Buddhism — and Lindsay C. Herkness III — a banker, dapper dresser and proud dog owner — lost their lives at the World Trade Center

In fact, the Upper East Side's 10021 ZIP code lost more residents — 44 in total — than any other in the city.

On Saturday, several events on the Upper East Side will commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 — organized by residents who were personally touched by that day.

Sunrise ceremony

Starting at 7 a.m. Saturday, people will gather on the John Finley Walk at Carl Schurz Park for a sunrise ceremony featuring music, poetry, readings and more.

Speakers will include the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Sen. Liz Krueger and others. Personal 9/11 stories will be shared by Jim Woodworth, a past director of the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Center, and other first responders.

It was put together in part by Howard Teich, an Upper East Sider who assisted at ground zero in the days after the attack, and who organized a similar ceremony at Battery Park for the 10th anniversary. The event, Teich said, aims to channel the spirit of "togetherness" that swept the city 20 years ago.

"As we’re going through the covid reopening, there’s a lot of similarities," he told Patch.

Memorial stones for fallen firefighters

Few firehouses in the city were as hard-hit on 9/11 as Engine 22, Ladder 13, Battalion 10 on East 85th Street between Third and Lexington avenues.

The nine men who died that day — Capt. Walter Hynes and firefighters Gregory Stajk, Thomas Sabella, Vincent Kane, Martin McWilliams, Thomas Hetzel, Dennis McHugh, Michael Elferis and Thomas Casoria — have become known in the ensuing years as the "Yorkville 9," for the neighborhood they served.

The firehouse will host its own public ceremony at 8:35 a.m. Saturday. Then, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., one woman will be seated outside the firehouse with an exhibition that documents how each man was memorialized.

We invite our Upper East Side community to join our FDNY neighbors Engine 39/Ladder 16 & 19th Precinct Officers, tomorrow, Saturday, 9/11 at 8:35am in front of our precinct & FDNY firehouse—as we honor & remember all lives lost 20 years ago on 9/11 & since from 9/11 illness. pic.twitter.com/A8ItZ5SZia
— NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) September 10, 2021

Kathy Jolowicz is a lifelong Yorkville resident, having called the neighborhood home since its days as a German enclave. As founder of the Yorkville/Kleindeutschland Historical Society, she had gotten to know Hetzel, who shared her German heritage.

"I will always remember his smile, with a wave to me, as I passed by on my way to work summer mornings," Jolowicz wrote in a remembrance after the attacks.

In the weeks after 9/11, Jolowicz raised $6,000 to purchase nine stones to honor Hetzel and his fallen colleagues, and gave each man's family the chance to select one that they felt matched their relative's personality.

Each stone was engraved with the firefighter's name, firehouse, and birth and death dates. In the fall of 2001, Jolowicz and their families placed the stones in the gardens of nine buildings in the neighborhood, where they remain to this day.

Hetzel, who loved the annual German-American Steuben Parade, had his stone placed at 1025 Fifth Avenue — along the event route, "so that he could be part of the parade each year," Jolowicz recalled this week.

Those interested in learning about each firefighter can find Jolowicz outside the 85th Street firehouse on Saturday — or visit each man's stone at the following locations:

• Captain Walter Hynes: 171 East 84th St. (public garden, near Third Avenue)
• Thomas Casoria: 40 East 83rd St. (at Madison Avenue)
• Michael Elferis: 980 Park Ave. (Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, between 83rd and 84th streets)
• Thomas Hetzel: 1025 Fifth Ave. (between 83rd and 84th streets)
• Vincent Kane: 1016 Fifth Ave. (at East 83rd Street)
• Dennis McHugh: 125 East 84th St. (between Park and Lexington avenues)
• Martin McWilliams: 8 East 83rd St. (between Madison and Fifth avenues)
• Thomas Sabella: 200 East 84th St. (at Third Avenue)
• Gregory Stajk: 140 East 83rd St. (at Lexington Avenue)