PrincetonUniversity
 

Memorial garden honors alumni killed on Sept. 11

A memorial garden honoring the 13 Princeton University alumni killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was dedicated in a ceremony Saturday, Sept. 13.

The garden is located on the west side of East Pyne Hall where it connects with Chancellor Green. The area is just east of Nassau Hall.

Planning for the garden began following a December 2001 memorial service for the alumni in the University Chapel. Its dedication coincides with the re-opening this year of East Pyne and Chancellor Green after two years of renovation. The buildings now house the Andlinger Center for the Humanities.

"Our goal is to identify a beautiful and peaceful and living place where the names of these 13 Princetonians can be memorialized for all time," President Shirley M. Tilghman said at the 2001 memorial service. "We hope it will become a place not only of remembrance, but of reflection and renewal -- a place where their flames can be kept alive and their spirits can be at peace."

University staff members worked with class leaders to develop the memorial. It includes a paved walkway in which a large bluestone plaque and 13 small bronze stars have been placed. The plaque reads: "This garden is dedicated to the 13 Princeton alumni who tragically lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." The stars are positioned in a circle and engraved with the names and class years of the alumni.

The memorial, which is surrounded by plantings and three stone benches, also includes a bronze bell that is suspended between two posts. The bell, titled "Remembrance," was designed by Toshiko Takaezu, a retired Princeton faculty member who lives in Quakertown, N.J. Takaezu, most noted as a ceramicist, has created a significant body of work in clay, bronze and fiber. She taught in Princeton's Program in Visual Arts from 1967 to 1992. The garden design was a collaboration between Office of Physical Planning architects and Quennel Rothschild landscape architects.

The 13 Princetonians killed in the Sept. 11 attacks were: undergraduate alumni Robert Cruikshank '58, Robert Deraney '80, Christopher Ingrassia '95, Karen Klitzman '84, Catherine MacRae '00, Charles McCrann '68, Robert McIlvaine '97, Christopher Mello '98, John Schroeder '92, Jeffrey Wiener '90 and Martin Wohlforth '76; and graduate alumni William Caswell *75 and Joshua Rosenthal *81.

Princeton alumni killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are honored in the new memorial garden on campus.

photo: Denise Applewhite