Twenty-five years later, we remember the costly toll of Sept. 11

A monument sits outside the Avon Free Public Library in honor Avon native Amy Toyen, who died on Sept. 11 in New York City.

To some, it is history. For many of us, Sept. 11 is a day etched into our souls for all the wrong reasons.

Twenty-five years ago, terrorists used airplanes as weapons on a sunny Tuesday morning in New York City, Washington, D.C. and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed that day. Some were passengers in the four hijacked aircraft. Some were in the Pentagon or the World Trade Center buildings that were hit. Others were police, firefighters and other emergency personnel responding to the incident in New York and died when the buildings collapsed.

Others have died in the years since due to the dust and toxic chemicals in the air when the buildings came crashing to the earth.

There were 161 Connecticut residents that died on Sept. 11, including Avon High graduate Amy Toyen.

She was just 24 when she died in New York City. Toyen, an employee of Thomson Financial in Boston, was in New York to attend an event at the World Trade Center. A marketing coordinator for Thomson Financial, she was helping to set up a display about her company at a trade show on the 106th floor.

Raised in Avon, she graduated from Avon High in 1995 and Bentley College in 1999.

Since 2002, a memorial in her honor has been at the Avon Free Public Library. Canton artist Marilyn Parkinson Thrall designed and executed a 22-inch bronze statue depicting Amy as a young girl, sitting cross-legged on a bench and cradling a teddy bear as she reads a book on her lap.

Each year, people bring flowers to the memorial.

Because, we will never forget.

Hartford Courant story in 2002 on the dedication the memorial at the library.

Remembering Amy