Thursday, 4:30 PM
In Sudbury, a small town remembers three
A memorial service today in Sudbury for three local victims killed in the Sept. 11 attacks five years ago.
By Kristen Green and Andrew Ryan, Globe Correspondents
In Sudbury, as the bells at churches tolled at 8:46 a.m. this morning, three granite benches sat empty in a lush park across from Town Hall.
That is because this western suburb of some 17,000 people had three victims in the attacks five years ago on Sept. 11. There is a bench for Peter Goodrich, 33, and another for Cora Holland, 52, who both died on hijacked planes.
The third empty bench is for Geoffrey Cloud, 36, who grew up in town and worked on the 105th floor of the north tower.
The benches are arranged in a semi-circle around a one-ton bolder of local granite that bears a plaque naming each victim.
"It means everything to us," said Bette Cloud, the mother Geoffrey Cloud, a senior partner at Cantor Fitzgerald.
As a crowd of 60 watched, Bette Cloud and others representing each victim placed pots of orange and red roses beneath each copper plaque. Police and fire fighters wearing their dress blues raised a flag to half-staff. A leafy green wreath was laid.
Kathy Newman placed a pot of roses for her former neighbor, Cora Holland, and kissed the plaque that bore her name.
"It's nice to see so many people remember and care," Newman said after the 10-minute ceremony.
(Janet Knott/Globe Staff)
The plaque at Heritage Park in Sudbury memorializing three local victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
