Naperville will host events to remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
This year’s event will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11, at the Cmdr. Dan Shanower Memorial, located behind the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle St., along the Riverwalk. In case of rain, the event will be inside the Municipal Center Council Chambers. The Naperville Municipal Band will play at 5:45 p.m.
In addition, from noon to 12:30 p.m., a special 30-minute concert on the bells of the Millennium Carillon in remembrance of Sept. 11 will occur. This will include a solemn tolling of the “Big Joe” bell followed by “In Memoriam,” a carillon piece written following the events of Sept. 11 meant to be played in bell towers throughout the world. Patriotic selections and others that focus on the themes of hope and peace will make up the remainder of the concert. Carillon music can also be heard beginning at 5:30 p.m.
This year’s featured speaker at the Shanower Memorial remembrance will be Lanson W. “Lanny” Russell, who retired as Chief of the DeKalb Fire Department in July 2008 following a storied 44-year fire service career. Russell was a chief for 31 years, serving four departments: Peotone, Villa Park, Downers Grove and DeKalb. While in Peotone, Russell was part of the team that established the first all-volunteer paramedic program in Illinois, and he was fire chief in DeKalb when the deadly shooting that took the lives of five students and injured another 18 occurred at Northern Illinois University.
Russell is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy and the Senior Executive Institute at the University of Virginia. He is a past president of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association and the DuPage Fire Chiefs Association and has served on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Educational and Research Foundation for almost 40 years.
