FARMINGTON—Everyone who is old enough remembers where they were when the towers fell on Sept. 11 and the aftermath that followed. Davis Remembers – the 911 project, a memorial exhibit on the events of that day, opened Sept. 7 and runs through Sept. 10 at the Legacy Events Center in Farmington.

“I was on a mission in Santiago Chili on Sept. 11,” said Jennie Taylor, founder of the Major Brent Taylor Foundation whose husband was killed in Afghanistan in 2018. “This exhibit is to remember, experience and commit. It is meant to push you to look with an intent to commit all that frustration and hurt and all you felt and channel that into something beautiful and uplifting. So let’s roll.”

“My unit got the call later that afternoon,” said retired FDNY firefighter Steve Casquarelli. “We got there after the collapse of the towers and they were in flames. We tried to find water to extinguish the fire and started digging for survivors. We found the last 18 survivors on Sept. 12.”

Casquarelli said he was relocated to another unit where he was on duty for 24 hours then off for 24. “Then after that we’d come back and do it all over again. I was in a communications field unit doing record keeping. I was keeping records of all the remains of human beings and we’d keep a running total.”

There was one baby, he said. “By the end of the work we had 2,100 body parts. That was my view every day. It was disturbing and playing games with my mind. From an emotional aspect I had to put it to the back of my head and go into work mode.”

It wasn’t until he went into the first aid station to have his heel checked that it all came flooding out, said Casquarelli. “While I was sitting in the chair I was physically relaxed but with everything tucked into my head I could feel my emotions rising. The EMS worker fixed my foot but asked if I wanted to talk. That bit of human compassion caused me to spill everything out on her lap. It was a good moment for me to get that all out.”

This exhibit brings back those memories and emotions, he said. “This time of year I feel the tension and find myself getting jittery. It’s a tough time of year but this exhibit is absolutely beautiful.”

Davis Remembers is filled with 378 eight-foot tall frames with photos, 24 TV screens spread throughout the 50,000 square foot events center with visual displays and four large format documentary rooms where visitors can watch the events of 9/11.

“It runs through every emotional photo and news video,” said Taylor. “You can listen to audio and read about the events and spend a few minutes or you can spend hours.”

Taylor said long before she was a widow she was teaching. “I love my country, 9/11 is a facet of my life. My husband gave his life for this country. I want my children to know what happened that day. We need to come together to teach the next generation what the last generation did. If we don’t educate and inspire, we've got no future for our children.”

They need to feel something, she said. “Everyone needs to experience this and raise up the children regardless of race or skin color. We must find common ground and unity. We need to come together to succeed with other’s successes. Kids are our future. They're our everything.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. through Sept. 10 at the Legacy Events Center, 151 S. 1100 West in Farmington.λ