NYC-WTC_000230754

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document LIGTE8TLO OOTOWTZ ALIO ' In contrast to a service held last month at Yankee . Stadium, the event in lower Manhattan was brief, ‘with only four speakers, one each from the Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and Protestant faiths. Mayor Rudol- ph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki attended the ser- vice, sitting alongside the religious leaders, but did hot speak. |. While the event was solemn, at times, the sense of ' being at the site unleashed inconsolable episodes of . | grief. _; ¢ Donna Marsh O'Connor of hiverpoal, N.¥, who : Lost ber dleughterpVanense’ Larger, 29, of Yonkers, members. ' in Tower Two, began pleading, “My daughter's in there! My daughter’s in there!” upon being turned away from one of the entrance gates by police offic- ers. “When they said, ‘No, you can’t go that way,’ she got upset,” said her sister-in-law, Claire O’Connor. The turnout was triple what city officials had ex- pected. Many family members who were forced to stand for the service were dismayed by the lack of seating for the overflow crowd. “It’s an unfortunate thing that we're trying to re- late each other’s stories and you have people shoving into you,” said Morello, who lost her father, Steven. Still, Deena Ryan of Queens, who lost her son, Jonathan 8. Ryan, in Tower Two, said she appreciat- ed being able to connect with other. victimes’ family Pa Yow eo . a i at ‘ - Bee a Problem. ts standing in the aisle turned into a moment of bond- ing. Ryan said she eventually offered the woman her own seat, “And we started talking,” Ryan said, “and her daughter was on the United Airlines flight that hit Tower Two, where my son worked . . . And we sort of connected.” . After the service, many family members ap- proached the stage hoping to drop flowers for their - loved ones, Unable to face the site where his father died, Joseph Maclovio of Norwalk, Calif., gave a fire- fighter a red rose and asked if he could lay it on the rubble for him. Tha firefighter took the flower and said softly, “f Ryan said a disagreement with an older couple NYC-WTC_000230755