hulen_memorial_92203

Posted: 9/19/03

Fort Worth church plants
a monument to Sept. 11 victims

By George Henson

Staff Writer

FORT WORTH–A partnership of prayer and patriotism produced a plethora of emotions at a service commemorating the lives of the 3,000 people who died Sept. 11, 2001.

The service held Sept. 10 at Hulen Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth was the product of the church's communications team.

Gary Morey, a member of that team, said work on the service began in early July. One of the chief goals of the service was to minister to church member Lynda Kelly, who lost a sister working at an insurance company on the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center's south tower.

A color guard prepares to march amid the field of memorial flags at Hulen Street Baptist Church.

“We wanted to make sure Lynda knew we hadn't forgotten and that the church knew we hadn't forgotten,” Morey said.

Last year, the church had a big, complex commemoration, explained Pastor Jim Pannell. But this year, members wanted something different.

“We felt probably less attention would be given to the anniversary this year, and if we could focus some attention on it, it would be our time and energy,” he said. “But also we wanted to do something not quite as elaborate or complex. We wanted something simple, because simple is often more profound.”

The communications team came up with the idea of placing 3,000 small flags on the church's north lawn in the shape of the two towers and the Pentagon.

“We wanted something visual,” Pannell said. “When you think 3,000, that's a number and so impersonal. But when you think each one of those flags represents a life, that's overwhelming.”

It was overwhelming for the team preparing for the event as well. They quickly discovered that placing the flags in the ground was emotional work, Morey said.

“We wanted to make sure that each flag was not just there, but straight, because each one represented a person. As the day went on, it began to heat up, some the glue didn't hold and the flags began to fall. We rushed out there to put tape on them or whatever needed to be done to keep them looking nice. We wanted each one to look just as grand as it could.

“We almost began to feel that we were caretakers for a cemetery, and it was up to us to preserve the dignity of the people those flags represented,” Morey continued.

A mother and daughter pray as they plant a memorial flag in the church lawn.

The service included patriotic music sung by the congregation, praise band and children, a brief word from Kelly and Pannell, a message from a chaplain at the Joint Reserve Base and a presentation of the flag by a local color guard. Everyone attending had a chance to fill in purposefully left gaps in the design by placing a flag with the name of a person who died in the attack.

Preparing those flags with names was an especially difficult task, Morey said. “We got those names off the Internet, and beside each person's name was a face. Looking into those people's faces made it difficult.”

In addition to the four people who actually placed the thousands of flags in the ground, another member stayed up the entire night before turning water on and then off and on again to soften the ground without making it a quagmire. Another member fashioned a cross from heavy gauge steel.

All that effort formed a visual impression Hulen Street members hope will not quickly fade.

“Things become memories and then forgotten so quickly in our society, we thought it important to do something to keep this day in our history from being shoved to the backs of people's minds as a distant memory,” Pannell said.