Massachusetts Holds 20th Annual September 11 Commemoration, Reading 217 Names

BOSTON — July 22, 2026 — Massachusetts marked the 20th anniversary of September 11 ceremonies with a flag-lowering and name-reading commemoration honoring 217 state residents killed in the 2001 attacks. The event, broadcast on Boston's community access TV, featured multiple readers — most of them family members — who moved through the list alphabetically, pausing to identify personal connections: one named "my uncle, Mark Bavis," a Los Angeles Kings hockey scout killed aboard United Airlines Flight 175; another described "my funny, lovable, sweet baby brother" before reading the name Ariel Louis Jacobs; a survivor said of Todd R. Hill that he "was four floors above me when he died." Organizer Diane Hunt, mother of Bill Hunt, was quoted in the closing remarks: "We didn't ask to be here, we didn't expect to be here, but here we are as family." The ceremony concluded with a "Portraits of Resilience" video segment opening with remarks from Mary Bavis, mother of Mark Bavis, described as having passed away shortly after her segment was recorded.