Post office remembers
resident killed at WTC
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer
Jack Lennon of Howell gets a hug from a co-worker during a ceremony honoring his late son, Jay.
HOWELL — Jack Lennon, 70, an employee with the recreation department, made an especially poignant trip to the Howell Post Office, Route 9 and Aldrich Road, on Sept. 11.
Lennon regularly picks up the township mail at that location and it was there, at 8:46 a.m., that his extended postal family paid tribute to him and honored his son John "Jay" Lennon, a Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officer who was killed while attempting to rescue victims during the World Trade Center attack a year ago.
Following a moment of silence held by attendees at the memorial service that included recreation director Helene Schlegel, who is Lennon’s supervisor, and several of his co-workers, a wall of tribute was unveiled that included five individual portraits and plaques honoring Jay and all the other New Jersey police officers who not only gave their lives on Sept. 11, but in the entire recorded history of New Jersey policing. Also included is a framed reproduction of the now famous photo of three firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero.
Howell postmaster Leonard Oaks said he and the other employees at the post office had grown to know Lennon over the years he has been coming to pick up the mail.
"Jack’s been part of our extended postal family for some time now. When we heard that one of our own had suffered such a personal loss, it touched all of us and we wanted to do something, however small, to remember not only him, but all who had sacrificed so much," Oaks said.
For Lennon, who attended the ceremony without his wife, Lucille, who he said is still too grief-stricken to be able to attend, the gesture was anything but small.
"This is a beautiful thing they’ve done here to honor not only my son, but all the fine young people we’ve lost," he said.
Lennon’s son, Jay, was one of 37 PAPD officers lost in the rescue attempt on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Lennon, 44, a resident of Howell, left behind a wife, Patricia Poole Lennon, to whom he was married for 23 years, and four children, Melissa, 21, a student at Virginia Tech, John, 19, a student at Washington College in Maryland, and Katy, 13 and Christopher, 11, both students at Howell Middle School North.
According to Lennon, to date, only 22 of those 37 PAPD officers have been found and identified through DNA analysis. Lennon said he believes his son’s remains may have been recovered due to the fact the family was recently asked to submit a second DNA sample from Jay’s personal effects.
Lennon said his son’s gun was found and identified in March. He said when the gun was found, its recorded temperature was 300 degrees. He said the gun will be melted down and made into crosses for the Lennon family.
Also on Sept. 11, Lennon attended a Mass at St. Veronica’s Church honoring Jay, who coached sports for four years at St. Veronica’s. Jay Lennon also coached Little League baseball in Howell with his father for more than a decade.