JOHN DAY – Next Sunday marks the anniversary of the terror attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon – a day that holds strong memories for most Americans.

Grant County residents shared some of their recollections recently, as years since 9/11 stretch to a decade. Following are their thoughts:

Courtney Nolta was living in Bend, working for Amazon.com. Four months pregnant, she was still in bed when she got the word. “My mom called and said that we’d been attacked. I turned on the news. It was quite scary…”

Nolta recalls spending every chance she had watching news to learn what was going on.

How it influenced her: “It’s made me more aware of the freedoms we have, and how we take it for granted. In my lifetime there’s never been a war on my soil. That was their attempt to make war with us. I learned that the security we rely on can be taken away at any time.”

Cammie Haney of John Day was just out of high school, working at the remote Summit Lake Lodge, the nearest town, Moose Pass, Alaska. She’d been there five months when 9/11 happened. There were a lot of people from other countries working there. She remembers a man from the Czech Republic telling her that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. They all gathered around the sole television within many miles.

“Between 25 and 30 of us stood around the television. People were coming in because it was the nearest place where there might be a TV. I kept serving coffee while everybody watched. Some had complete horror, some cried. To me it just didn’t seem real. So many people were crying, horrified. They were worried about people they knew over there, people who were supposed to fly, and the flights that had been grounded. I just poured coffee and smiled.”

A month later she was done with the seasonal job and returned home.

How it influenced her:

“It really made me aware of all the blessings I have in my life. It gave me a sense of pride in this country. Even though sad things happen, it could be a lot worse.”

She is an emergency services dispatcher.

The lodge only had a satellite phone to be used in extreme emergencies. Her mother, Cindy Tirico, back in Canyon City, called on it. “She had me hunted down to find out if I was OK, and she told me she loved me.”

Sharon Smith of John Day was preparing breakfast for herself and husband Jim when she heard the news, first on the radio and later on TV. She said that at first she thought it was related to recent reports of air traffic controllers on strike and asleep on the job.

Her first response? “I came down to the church,” she said, referring to St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church.

While she believes the 9/11 attack “did things that were detrimental to our freedom,” she also said that she feels that now “we’re more aware of our emergency personnel and all that they do for this country.”

Richard Gray of Prairie City was at home when he heard the news. Now a sergeant with the John Day Police, Gray was then working with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

He said his first thought was, “What are we going to be doing for law enforcement?” He also made a call into the Sheriff’s Office right away to check in with then-Undersheriff Jim McNellis.

As far as how the tragedy transformed us as a community and country, Gray said, “I believe it’s made us all more aware and more alert.”

“The threat is still out there.”

Ron Smith, John Day fire chief, said “10 years went by awfully fast.”

Working as assistant fire chief in Sandy at the time, he recalls the other firefighters on duty were upstairs having coffee, watching the morning news.

“They yelled you have to see this,” he said, and they saw on TV the first of the trade centers burning after a commercial airplane crashed into it. “At first, we thought it was an accident.”

They continued to watch TV as events unfolded that day. He noted that nearly 3,000 people died that day, he said, adding that many were emergency responders rushing up the stairs into harm’s way. He and his collegues refer to the firemen who died that day as “The 343” (refering to the number who lost their lives).

“It’s an event that will forever change the way we live,” he said. “They killed their own people and women and children. I just don’t understand that.”

Sara Harig, Prairie City, was 13 and at school on Sept. 11, 2001. An eighth-grader at Prairie City School at the time, she recalls, “My principal came over the intercom and said we need to have a moment of silence for the people who lost their lives. We went to the flag and had a moment of silence, and everyone cried.”