After September 11, 2001, Schoharie County was one of hundreds of small communities across the country that sent their own heroes to New York City to help with recovery and cleanup.
Twenty years later, with the help of videographer Dennis Shaw, the Historical Society has pulled together some of their stories—stories of people like Richmondville Mayor Kevin Neary, State Trooper Chip Johnstone, and longtime Cobleskill Fire Department volunteer John Copland—for a 40-minute video “We Were There…Schoharie County.”
Friday, Melinda McTaggart, director at the Old Stone Fort, along with some of those volunteers, delivered a box of “We Were There” DVDs to the Board of Supervisors, sharing the video’s trailer, and speaking about their ongoing work to archive those experiences.
Sadly, it’s footage of Mayor Neary that kicks off the video trailer.
After images of the two planes hitting the World Trade Center, he talks about the feelings of helplessness and sadness that quickly set in.
Mayor Neary died on July 10; Saturday, the day after the video presentation, hundreds of friends lined Main Street, Richmondville, to say goodbye.
Curt VanSteele, a trustee at the Old Stone Fort who worked on pulling the video interviews together, said he’d always wondered what it was like to work in NYC after 9/11, “but it’s not a question you just ask all these people who serve.”
It took a while and multiple phone calls to get to some of those featured in “We Remember,” but once they started opening up, he said he saw how critical it was to record their stories.
County Emergency Management Officer Mike Hartzel served two tours in Afghanistan after working in NYC after 9/11.
9/11 hit him harder.
“I still always thing back to 9/11,” he said. “All the excitement that surrounds the anniversary…every September 11, it kind of haunts me a little bit.
“I look at this [video] and I see so many heroes in our community. Every day when there’s danger, they run toward it…”
Holding a photo of the six Cobleskill Fire Department volunteers called to 9/11, Mr. Copland read off their names and talked about how proud they were—Mr. Copland, Bill Averill, Shawn McGovern, Harold Ray, Jane Russell, and Lucille Compton--to represent Schoharie County.
Mr. Johnstone, who worked in NYC after 9/11 as a member of the State Police, said at first, he was reluctant to talk to Mr. VanSteele.
But Mr. Van Steele kept calling and he’s proud to be a part of the video.
“Every once in a while, you get to step into the spotlight,” added Mr. Shaw, who pulled the video together.
Attorney Mike West singled out Cobleskill Fire Department volunteer Brian Head, for being the first man Mayor Neary, with a career in emergency management and disasters, called to help him in NYC.
“When Kevin needed help, Mr. Head was the first man Kevin called,” he said.
There are a couple of versions of “We Were There,” Mr. VanSteele said, and their works will continue.
“This isn’t really something that ends with this,” he said.
On the suggestion of Supervisors’ chairman Bill Federice, Ms. McTaggart said she hopes to pull together a September screening of the video.
“We all know what 9/11 was like and where we were, but this shows us what it was like for the first responders,” Mr. Federice said.