‘Never Forget’ in the “Oasis of Tranquility”

The courtyard behind City Hall was described by Mayor Ken Tedford as an “Oasis of Tranquility” during the 9/11 ceremony last week as he spoke to a crowd of nearly 400 community members. Students from Oasis Academy and CCHS filled the risers, first responders stood in pressed uniforms, and neighbors sat under the shade trees on the beautiful lawn. Twenty-four years after September 11, 2001, Fallon kept its promise: we remember.

Tedford began, as he often does, speaking plainly from the heart. He noted the violence in our country the day before and asked the crowd to meet the moment with civility. “It doesn’t matter what party we’re in, or where we come from—we’re all Americans,” he said. “Violence should never be a factor in how we discuss our differences. It has to start in our hometowns.”

Before the formal program, the mayor shared the story of the memorial behind him, the one that anchors the courtyard with weight and purpose. In the months after the attacks, Fallon raised money on the corner of Maine and Williams Streets with a firefighter’s boot, students wrote letters, and Fallon’s beloved former newspaper editor and publisher, Anne Pershing, organized an American flag mural be painted at that intersection. The city reached out to New York with an offer of whatever help we could give.

In reply, New Yorkers sent a steel beam from the Twin Towers. Public Works Director Jerry Mayfield brought it home, Architect Frank Woodliff III designed the memorial, and on Sept. 11, 2002, the community dedicated it “to never forget and always remain vigilant.” Anger, the mayor said, is human. “We just can’t have hatred—hatred takes over your heart.”

Pastor Ron Armenta offered the invocation, praying Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength” and naming the people who make our community run: ranchers and farmers, builders and nurses, teachers, retail workers, business owners, the folks who serve behind desks and on flight lines at Naval Air Station Fallon. He asked that our remembrance “call us not only to look back, but to live forward with faith, courage, and compassion.”

The Mason Valley Fire Protection District bagpipers played while Churchill County High School’s ROTC presented the colors. The high school choir led the national anthem. District Attorney Art Mallory led the Pledge of Allegiance. In the hush that followed, you could hear the soft clink of flag hardware in the breeze.

U.S. Navy Capt. Andrew “Grand” Mariner returned to the podium this year as the keynote speaker. Fallon, he said, has become home across seven of the last ten years, a place sailors arrive “kicking and screaming” and leave the same way because they don’t want to go. He reminded the crowd that many who wear the uniform today weren’t yet born in 2001. That makes ritual and memory matter more, not less. “Never forget,” he said, “means remembering local names on the memorial wall, remembering first responders who run toward danger, and remembering 2,977 lives cut short.” He closed with a story of one victim—Brian David Sweeney, a former Naval aviator and Topgun instructor—whose photo still hangs at NAS Fallon.

The mayor walked through the day’s terrible timeline as he does every year, the planes, the towers, the Pentagon, Shanksville, and then paused for a national moment of silence. Chief AWSC (SEL) Benjamin Lazarus led the “Old Glory” flag tribute, a reminder that the flag has watched over our finest hours and bound our wounds in the worst.

The American Legion’s three-volley salute cracked the morning, followed by the long, lonely notes of “Taps.” Chaplain Reiner Harper of NAS Fallon gave the benediction, asking strength for families who still grieve, wisdom for leaders, and unity for our city and base community. “Keep our nation free,” he prayed, “and keep us bound together by love toward you and toward each other.”

As Summer Stanton sang “Amazing Grace” and notes rose over the courtyard, first responders stepped forward to place flowers at the monument. One by one, students and townspeople followed. This small act of remembrance, the quiet parade we take to our local 9/11 monument each year to place these red and white roses in remembrance, has become a community tradition that with respect we perform every year.