NEW YORK – For much of the world, Saturday was a day to grieve the killings of 2,972 people in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for a third time.

But for Judith Levinhar, every day has been filled with the anguish of losing her son, Shai Levinhar, who was 29 and a new father when he died in the World Trade Center attacks.

“I find myself thinking about him every day,” she said as she stood outside the deep pit that now marks the place where the twin towers once stood.

Levinhar, who lives in Israel, and her brother, Adam Wishkovsky, of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and other family members wore pictures of Shai Levinhar as they listened to his name being read at a ceremony at the World Trade Center site Saturday.

For the third year, thousands of relatives and friends of survivors gathered there, listening as victims’ parents and grandparents read the names of each of the 2,749 people who died there.

“Gordon Aamoth Jr.,” the 200 readers, taking turns in pairs, began their solemn recitation.

They read for about three hours.

“Kevin James Murphy … Juan Ortega-Campos … Yoichi Sugiyama …

Some readers struggled to continue.

Marina Arevalo paused tearfully as she read, “And my son, Kenneth P. Lira.” Her reading partner, Cecile Apollo, rubbed Arevalo’s back gently to soothe her.

Occasionally, the sorrowful rhythm of single names was punctuated by two.

“And our two sons, Keith Eugene Coleman and Scott Thomas Coleman,” their parents, Jean and Neil Coleman, read.

The Coleman brothers worked for investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Keith Coleman was 34. Scott was 31.

Family members hugged and cried as they watched.

The feelings were felt across the country as America mourned.

At Arlington National Cemetery, there was a moment of silence at 9:37, the time that another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon, where 184 people died. In Pennsylvania, more than 1,500 people gathered in the field where the fourth plane went down, killing the 40 passengers and crew aboard Flight 93.

President Bush and his wife, Laura, also observed a moment of silence on the White House’s South Lawn as the nation began a day of remembrance.

At the New York ceremony, moments of silence were observed at 8:46 and 9:03 a.m., the times two planes slammed into the trade center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, and at 9:59 and 10:29, when the two towers collapsed. As names were read, family members descended into the pit and laid flowers on its floor.

Many victims’ relatives expressed feelings similar to Levinhar’s, of daily pain mingled with fond memories.

Nancy Brandemarti read a poem during the ceremony in honor of her son Nick Brandemarti, who died three years ago at age 21.

“It’s the heartache of losing you, that never goes away,” she read. “We thought of you with love today, But that is nothing new. We thought about you yesterday, and the day before that, too.”

Rosanne Cash gently sang “Danny Boy.” Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, New York Gov. George Pataki and New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, all participated.

“It has been said that a child who loses his parent is an orphan, a man who loses his wife is a widower, a woman who loses her husband is a widow,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “There is no name for a parent who loses a child, for there are no words to describe this pain.”

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(c) 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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PHOTOS (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): ATTACKS-ANNIVERSARY

AP-NY-09-11-04 1751EDT