Victims’ family members gather in Westbury

No speeches or toasts were planned at the Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury, but the crowds came throughout the day nonetheless to a triangle of cemetery land where more than 70 gravestones for Catholic victims of the terror attacks stand.

Children, parents, aunts, co-workers and loved ones of firefighters, contractors, investment bankers who died on Sept. 11, 2001, planted flowers, cleaned graves and talked about their loss.

Christine Grecco of Hicksville brought flowers for her nephew, Adam Rand, 30, a New York City firefighter killed in the attacks along with many of his colleagues.

“There are so many that we know here. We come to see them also,” she said. “I think of the tragedy of the whole thing — all the firefighters and people — I think it makes it harder.”

Rand’s mother, MaryAnn Rand of Bellmore, said she wouldn’t watch television Sunday or pay attention to any Sept. 11-related reports. And she will not visit Ground Zero, choosing instead to reflect on the events a decade ago and honor her son quietly, in the Holy Rood Cemetery.

“He never ever left the house without telling his father and I ‘I love you,’” Rand said.