Last Wednesday, the weather was achingly similar to what it was exactly 23 years earlier — a warm September day with bright blue skies.

And it was on Sept. 11, 2001, that the peace of the nation was shattered by a terrorist attack during which four hijacked jetliners went down, including two that struck and crumbled the towers of New York’s World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people died — many of them firefighters and police officers who fought mightily to save lives.

It is now a day of remembrances, and St. Rocco’s School on the Johnston/Cranston border made it clear that its community will never forget the tragedy and, in particular, beloved parent Renee Newell, who was a passenger on one of the planes that struck the Trade Center.

Students, faculty and city leaders gathered on the front lawn of the school Wednesday to bow their heads while Johnston Fire Department Battalion Chief Tom McCormick lowered the school’s flag to half-mast.

St. Rocco’s Pastor, the Reverend Angelo Carusi, offered prayers, and the school choir led the singing of the National Anthem.

Dignitaries in attendance included Police Chief Mark A. Vieira, McCormick, and Lt. General Reggie Centracchio, Adjutant General of Rhode Island, Emeritus of the Rhode Island National Guard. During the ceremony, students took turns stepping up to the microphone to offer hopes for the future, and thoughts of peace and healing.

Speakers remembered Newell, whose son, Matthew, was a fourth-grader at St. Rocco’s when tragedy struck. An employee of American Airlines, Newell, 37, of Cranston, was on board one of the airliners that crashed into the Trade Center.

The crowd was reminded of the tree that has been planted in Newell’s memory. It stands between the school and St. Rocco’s Church, and students were encouraged to stop and visit it — to sit on the small bench beneath its branches, and to remember.

Editor’s Note: Barbara Polichetti, a Cranston resident, is a regular contributor to the Cranston Herald and Johnston SunRise. Contact Polichetti at bpolichetti@gmail.com.