Welcome to the Town of Greenburgh
News & Information  
  Select News to View

Please select the year.
2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002

Back to Article List

911 memorials planned for Saturday and Sunday in Greenburgh --
Release Date: September 07, 2016

At 9:45 a.m. on  Sunday, Sept. 11, the Town of Greenburgh will join the Hartsdale, Fairview and Greenville Fire Departments in a ceremony at Richard Presser Park (previously known as Webb Field) on Central Avenue. The ceremony will take place in front of our 911 memorial wall on Central Ave. Nearly 1700 mosaics were painted by artists from around the county shortly after 911.  A steel artifact from the World Trade Center is attached to the wall.

 

-- On 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10, a ceremony is planned by the family of Sharon Balkom, who was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Rosalee, Gordon and Joan Balkcom invite the public to share a memory, poem or song and reunite with family, friends and neighbors. The ceremony will be at Winding Ridge Memorial Garden, 22 Winding Ridge Road in White Plains. A reception follows at Theodore D. Young Community Center, 32 Manhattan Ave. in the Town of Greenburgh

 

Greenburgh, like so many other communities, lost some outstanding residents on 911. Among the victims: Bill Pohlmann, a former Republican candidate for Greenburgh Town Supervisor, an Ardsley volunteer firefighter, a high ranking assistant to the Westchester County Board of Legislators,  an appointee to a prominent job in state government by former Governor Pataki, a friend and critic, a veteran who always was willing to serve his country.

 

The following article appeared in Westchester Magazine about Sharon Balkcom.

PAUL FEINER

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/images/2011/WM/SEPTEMBER/9/Sharon-Balkcom2.jpg

Sharon Balkcom, 43

In 1999, after 40 years spent living in East Harlem apartments, Sharon Balkcom found her dream house: a $240,000 condo in Winding Ridge, a brand-new development off Route 119 in White Plains. “She was so excited,” recalls her older sister, Joan Balkcom, an assistant principal in the New York City school system. “She told the developers exactly what she wanted, from fixtures to carpeting. We’d come up every Saturday to take pictures and watch the progress. She wanted real estate; she wanted to live in Westchester. And it was close enough to the City that she could get down to Wall Street every day.”

It was a typically independent move for the career-minded Balkcom. Single after a brief marriage in the 1990s, the outgoing executive lived life on her own terms, from vacationing solo to learning to swim. Her mother, Rosalee, and her late father, Nathaniel, used education and the church to keep their three children on the right path. A math wiz, Sharon got into the Bronx High School of Science (as did her little brother, Gordon). While at Colgate, where she majored in International Relations, Sharon traveled alone to Barbados for an independent-study project on women who sold goods in the marketplaces. “She wasn’t afraid to take a risk,” Joan says. “I was the one who was always afraid.”

Sharon lived in her dream house for less than two years. On the morning of 9/11, she parked her new Volkswagen Passat at the Metro-North station in North White Plains and headed to work at Marsh & McClennan, the insurance brokerage and consulting firm, where she was assistant vice president for technology. She had a big presentation that morning and wanted to get in early. Her office was located in the impact zone where American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower; no traces of her were ever recovered.

Ten years later, Joan, Gordon, and Rosalee sit at the dining-room table in Sharon’s condo, where Joan has lived since 2003. “Sharon worked very hard for this house,” says Joan, “and we didn’t care what we needed to do as a family—we were going to keep it.” It was a year before they could bring themselves to erase her voice from the answering machine. “I think about her every day,” Rosalee, 84, says softly.
They struggle to find words to express their pain and grief, which seems as raw as ever. The best thing to do is look around Sharon’s former home, where memorial quilts and photographs tell the story of a life taken too soon. Sharon belonged to Phi Delta Sigma, a sorority for African American businesswomen. Its symbol is the butterfly, and whenever Joan would find a butterfly “thing”—a pin, a vase—she’d give it to Sharon. After moving into her condo, her collecting accelerated, and, today, the condo brims with countless butterfly collectibles, from plaques to lawn ornaments.

“I have a new respect for butterflies and the freedom they represent, and how happy-go-lucky Sharon was, how free she felt to go out and do whatever she wanted to do, whatever she set her mind to,” says Joan, who wears a butterfly pendant around her neck along with a locket containing Sharon’s picture. “It’s strange for me, because I feel like I’m living her dream. I’m in her dream house. I’m driving her car.”
In the days after 9/11, Winding Ridge placed lit candles on her steps and held prayer vigils at the condo, and, in 2002, the development installed a memorial garden and bench near the clubhouse. For the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as they do every year, the community and the Balkcoms’ relatives gather there for a memorial service. “It’s become a tradition,” Gordon says.

Of the three, Gordon has been the most active in 9/11-related causes; he is the point person for all the legal matters and 9/11-related mail they receive. In 2009 and 2010, he ran in Sharon’s memory in the World Trade Center Run to Remember, and he helped to create a scholarship in her name at Colgate. He has attended Ground Zero memorial ceremonies every September, while Joan and their mother prefer to attend the memorial at The Rising. Joan and Rosalee have never been to Ground Zero. “I just can’t go,” Rosalee says. 
On the 10th anniversary, Joan will gather her nerve and go with Gordon to downtown Manhattan, for the 9/11 Memorial’s dedication ceremony. Afterward, she’ll drive Sharon’s car back up to Westchester, and, if it’s still light outside, she’ll drive past the memorial garden at Winding Ridge, as she often does, “just to look. Just because.”

 

THE ABOVE ARTICLE APPEARED IN WESTCHESTER MAGAZINE

 

PAUL FEINER

 

 




Print this page Print this page Print this page Email this page Email this page





Contact Information | Home | Town Supervisor | Town Council | Town Clerk's Office | Tax Department | Departments | Documents & Forms | Town Code | GIS Maps, Tax and Assessment Information | Agendas & Minutes | Watch Live Board Meetings | Public Access TV On Demand | Links | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) | Employment Opportunities | Town Updates by E-Mail | Pay Parking Tickets Online | Pay Water Bill Online | On-Line Tax Payments
Use Mobile Site

Copyright © 2014 Town of Greenburgh, NY. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by Cit-e-Net