LEWISTON – Claudette Jalbert listened.

She stood as the small crowd sang “America the Beautiful.” She pledged her allegiance to the flag, as she did when she was a girl.

And she listened as her brother-in-law’s name, Robert Jalbert, was read with the other Maine people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks two years ago.

“I think I came to see that someone else hasn’t forgotten him,” Claudette Jalbert said.

She also wanted to see her nephew, Tim Williams, of the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council. The teen group organized the anniversary event, which they called a Celebration of Freedom.

Jalbert’s nephew welcomed the 75 or so people who came to the steps of Lewiston City Hall. Among them were veterans, local politicians and folks from nearby offices.

It was a solemn celebration.

Remarks by representatives of Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Gov. John Baldacci were met by subdued applause.

Meanwhile, veteran Moe Marquis stood in the street, directing passing cars from getting too close to the audience.

The service lasted about 25 minutes, ending with the lowering of the nearby flag, already at half-mast.

Three junior ROTC cadets from Lewiston High School methodically raised the flag to the top then lowered it to the bottom, carefully moving hand over hand, unsnapping the flag from its line and folding it into a tight triangle.

Cadet Technical Sgt. Nicole Walton, a junior at the school, went through the motions in her crisp blue uniform. She felt a mixture of pride and sadness.

The process took several minutes while everybody stood silently, mirroring silences across the country for the thousands who died.

Claudette Jalbert stood quietly and watched. Few people in the crowd knew she had lost a member of her family.

This year at her home, there were no calls from reporters, as there were last year and in the hours and days after the Sept. 11 tragedy.

Robert Jalbert was flying on United Airlines Flight 175, the second plane to hit the World Trade Center.

Claudette said her husband, Paul, Robert’s brother, talks about him every day.

“We think and speak of him so often, it doesn’t shock me to hear his name,” said Claudette when the ceremony had ended.

“It was good to hear his name here,” she said.

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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