KEWASKUM, Wis. — At the newly minted Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial and Education Center, a little tree stands to the side of the rounded walkway, propped up by a thin stake.
Though its branches are still thin, this tree comes from a history of resilience: The sapling is a direct descendant of the Survivor Tree at Ground Zero — a Callery pear tree that made it through the 9/11 attacks alive.
Since that original tree was nursed back to health, it has sent seedlings to communities all over the world as a symbol of hope and healing. Kewaskum’s own memorial, which opened this summer, is proud to be caring for one of the seedlings, said Fuzz Martin, vice president of the board for Kewaskum Remembers 9/11.
“There aren't many of these around,” Martin said. “To have one of them in our community, and to know that it will be here as a symbol of resilience — we're honored to have it.”
Technically, the memorial has two trees — an “heir and a spare,” Martin said — though the second one is a cloned seedling that’s not taken directly from the Survivor Tree. Both seedlings are still small, but with some time and care, Martin expects them to grow to around 25 feet.
The entire memorial is steeped in symbolism. At its center is a 2,200 pound steel beam, a piece of the North Tower that was recovered from the wreckage, which is raised to point toward New York City. A white oak tree stands tall 754 inches from that beam, representing the miles from Kewaskum to New York.
Even with those hundreds of miles of distance, the 9/11 tragedy hits close to home in Kewaskum.
Andrea Haberman, who grew up in the area and graduated from Kewaskum High School, was at the World Trade Center on a business trip when the planes hit. Her family helped spur the memorial center into action — not as a tribute to Andrea alone, but to all the 2,977 victims of the attacks, Martin said.
Creating a physical monument will hopefully help the community learn and remember for years to come, said Scott Covelli, a PR director with EPIC Creative who’s been working with the memorial team.
“You hear the phrase ‘never forget’ a lot when it comes to something like this,” Covelli said. “But this is really the spirit of not forgetting, and embodying that in an actual place — in a memorial where people can come and always see it.”
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At Red Arrow Park in Manitowoc, another Survivor Tree seedling is growing strong.
The tree, which was planted pre-pandemic, stands at around 10 feet tall and looks “just gorgeous” when it blooms in the spring, said Ed Hansen from the Friends of Red Arrow Park.
“For that tree to survive — and you see the pictures, I mean, nothing should have survived,” Hansen said. “For me, it’s like a symbol of this country. It’s going to survive. So to have one of the saplings from that, I think it’s pretty special.”
This Saturday, the tree will get a new dedication in honor of one of the victims of the 9/11 attacks: Christine Snyder, one of the passengers onboard Flight 93. Snyder was one of 44 people who died when that plane crashed, after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers and prevented them from reaching their target.
Snyder had been living in Hawaii at the time, but some of her family members are still in Wisconsin, Hansen said. And the sapling is a fitting memorial for her: She was an arborist with a passion for protecting and planting trees.
Hansen said with the way the dedication came together, it felt like it was “meant to be.” He hopes the personal dedication can add to the remembrance of 9/11 at the park.
“The numbers are so large that you can’t get your head around it,” Hansen said. “But you know one person. That’s pretty meaningful.”
The park — which is dedicated to soldiers of the 32nd Infantry Division of the National Guard, know as the Red Arrow — will also be commemorating the effects of 9/11 for National Guard troops, Hansen said. The Saturday event will honor the six Wisconsin National Guard soldiers who died in the Iraq War.
Hansen himself was serving in the National Guard in the years after 9/11, and remembers well how that tragic day made an impact — from Guard soldiers being sent to provide security at airports right after the attacks, to deploying in Afghanistan after the Taliban fell.
“It changed all our lives,” Hansen said.
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As the Survivor Tree seedlings grow and blossom, the memorial leaders hope they’ll provide a symbol of rebirth. And they represent just one part of the project to keep the memory of 9/11 alive.
For Hansen, it’s been a long-time mission to bring recognition to the sacrifices of soldiers, both in the aftermath of 9/11 and in other battles throughout history.
“I want people to know that these were your neighbors,” Hansen said. “They went off and fought, and many of them died. Let's not forget the stories.”
Martin said the work of passing down the history is especially important as tens of millions of Americans are now growing up with little or no memory of that day. The Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial is working to provide lesson plans to help teachers share the story of that day with their classes, he said.
He hopes that the work will help remember not just the feelings of “confusion and grief and fear” of the day itself, but also of neighbors coming together and supporting each other in the aftermath.
“We’re making sure that people understand what happened,” Martin said. “So that we can help to try to prevent it from ever happening again, but also remember how we as a nation came together in the days following.”
The Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial and Education Center in Kewaskum will be holding its commemoration event on Saturday at 10 a.m., located at 1308 Fond du Lac Ave. The City of Manitowoc and Friends of Red Arrow Park will be holding their memorial event on Saturday at 9 a.m., located at 1931 S. Ninth Street.
See our guide for more information about 9/11 events across Wisconsin this weekend.