09/11/2026
Remembering September 11, 2001 - 25 Years Later
Twenty-five years later, I can still remember exactly how eerie and unsettling September 11, 2001, felt.
At the time, I was serving as a Pennsylvania State Representative and was attending a House Tourism Committee meeting in the Ryan Office Building at the State Capitol in Harrisburg. Chairman Bob Godshall was presiding over the hearing when a Capitol Police Officer quietly walked into the hearing room and whispered something into the Chairman's ear.
A moment later, Chairman Godshall announced that the Capitol was being evacuated and that the hearing had to end.
I walked back to my office in the East Wing, and suddenly, there was no one there. The Capitol, normally filled with Legislators, staff, employees and visitors, was essentially empty.
I gathered my bag, went into the parking garage and got in my car for the four-hour drive back to New Castle.
As I drove west across the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the reality of what happened began to sink in. The roads were unusually quiet, the uncertainty was overwhelming, and there was a feeling that our country had changed forever.
It was one of the most eerie days I have ever experienced.
Twenty-five years later, we remember the nearly 3,000 innocent people who lost their lives, the first responders who ran toward danger, the families who were forever changed, and the tremendous courage and unity displayed by Americans in the days that followed.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET SEPTEMBER 11, 2001!
May we always remember those we lost, honor those who served, and never take our freedom, our democracy, or our great nation for granted!
