Morganton artist plans unique 9/11 memorial for museum lawn

Roberto Paganuzzi passionately believes that Americans should take time on Sept. 11 to remember the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in 2001 that left nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens dead.

Paganuzzi is so passionate in that belief that he is spending thousands of dollars of his own money and donating hundreds of hours of his own time to construct a 9/11 memorial on the grounds of the History Museum of Burke County.

“At the heart of this project is the loss of life,” said Paganuzzi. “I want the focus to remain on the people who were lost and on remembering them.

“This memorial is not simply about a structure or a piece of artwork,” he continued. It is about creating a place where people can pause, reflect, remember, and understand that each of those lives mattered.”

Paganuzzi explained that the memorial will include three parts: an edge-lit representation of the two World Trade Center towers that were toppled that day; a 5-sided plexiglass structure representing the Pentagon; and a furrow in the ground with red LED lighting to represent the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania.

“What we’re going to have,” Paganuzzi said, “is a memorial that combines art, landscape, light, and architectural elements to create a space dedicated to reflection and remembrance.

“The design is intended to provide visitors with an opportunity to contemplate the human cost of Sept. 11 and the lasting impact of that day,” he added.

The memorial is now taking shape on the east lawn of the History Museum adjacent to King Street in downtown Morganton.

The memorial will be lighted for the first time at dusk on the evening of Friday, Sept. 11.

Several factors make this memorial project especially dear to Paganuzzi.

He is an American by choice, not by birth.

While his roots trace back to Italy, he was born in London in 1956 and he and his parents immigrated to America in the 1970s.

New York City is where he made his home for 21 years, getting to know intimately the rhythms of the largest city in America and the people who live there.

Paganuzzi had moved to Charlotte by the time the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks occurred, but his ties to New York remained.

A cousin of his, a member of the NYC Police Department, would have been killed when the towers fell, had he not elected that day to report in later than normal in order to take his children to school.

The officer’s entire squad perished.

“I remember the feeling of dismay that gripped our country that day,” Paganuzzi said. “I remember, too, a complete sense of helplessness. This horrible tragedy occurred and there was nothing any of us could do.”

The idea of constructing a 9/11 memorial in Morganton was born back in January, but his father grew seriously ill and the idea had to be put on hold while Paganuzzi dealt with that situation.

“When July 4 rolled around, the idea returned with a sense of urgency,” he said. “I knew if I was going to do this thing, I had to move quickly.”

Paganuzzi presented his idea to the museum’s board of directors at its July meeting and the board not only agreed to the placement of the memorial on museum grounds but also to pick up the tab for the electricity the memorial will require.

“We had initially planned for the memorial to be lighted and in place for only three months,” he said. “But now we have decided that it will remain in place through March of 2027.”

The History Museum has set up a Go Fund Me page to help defray the cost of the memorial’s construction and upkeep. It may be found at gofund.me/247be84ef.

In addition to the work by Paganuzzi on its lawn, The History Museum of Burke County will host a brief 9/11 memorial ceremony on the morning of Friday, Sept. 11.

The ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m. on the museum lawn adjacent to Paganuzzi’s memorial.

At 8:36 a.m., the precise moment that hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the museum’s American flag will be lowered to half, and the Rev. Jasper Hemphill will begin his invocation.

Retired educator Kathy Cozort will then read a short tribute to the late Lt. Commander Eric Cranford, a Drexel native who was killed when hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

The tribute Cozort will read was written by his widow, Emily Cozort Cranford, who is a cousin of Kathy Cozort.

Eric was 32 years old at the time of his death and was a Naval helicopter pilot who had served two tours in the Persian Gulf and was working in the Pentagon as a knowledge analyst.