Like so many Americans, Susan Morissette sat in front of her television set in the days following Sept. 11. A mother of four young children, ages four and younger, Morissette sat paralyzed in fear and horror trying to comprehend what she was watching on television in her rural Winslow, Maine home. "I was acting like a human, not a mother," she recalled. "I was unable to be an appropriate parent that day. My kids saw things that no children should ever be forced to see."
She had no explanation when her three-year-old son asked her if monsters were responsible for the destruction her children were watching on the television. Eventually, Morissette and her husband, Bill, a postal worker, turned off their television and sat their four children on the couch. Trying to explain the attack, the family sat together under one large quilt. "It’s even cold in September in Maine," she explained.
That’s when it happened.
Snuggled under the oversized quilt, her four-year-old son, Christopher, looked up at her and said something that changed her life forever. "I wish everyone could feel this way right now, Mommy."
Right then, Morissette’s quilt was born.
The mammoth yet unfinished project, dubbed the Heart of America Quilt, is a memorial to the heroes and the victims of Sept. 11. Comprised of red, white and blue panels that when sewn together, will form a giant replica of the United States flag. With local dignitaries and 9/11 heroes looking on, Morissette brought her flag to Reston on a snowy Saturday, Feb. 15, to help kick off fundraising efforts for her quilted memorial. "We did this for the people that lost their lives for a war they didn’t know they were fighting," she said.
Several local firefighters were on hand to welcome Morissette and her quilt. "One word comes to mind: awesome," said Fairfax County EMS supervisor, Capt. Richard Sweatt. "It is very, very good to know that people understand what we do everyday, but we also want them to know that they are very much a part of our lives. It is a partnership."
LESS THAN A MONTH after Sept. 11, Jean Rosenbluth was visiting family in Maine when she read an article in the local newspaper about the Morissette’s quilt. Instantly she knew she wanted to be a part of this venture. "I wanted my state of Virginia to be represented in this patriotic legacy," said Rosenbluth, who is now the official Virginia representative for the quilt. "What a beautiful way to show those who died and their families that America will never forget by putting thousands of our signatures, artwork and heartfelt messages on a panel."
By November of 2001, Morissette was receiving unsolicited quilt patches in the mail from as far away as Africa and Australia.
Now some 17 months has passed and the quilt, which includes panels contributed by all 50 states, eight governors, one United States Senator, three Fairfax County Fire Departments, and thousands of the nation’s schoolchildren. In the coming months, Morissette, said she expects to add panels from the New York Fire Department, Cantor Fitzgerald and the Todd Beamer foundation.
The Heart of America Quilt is now 5,000 square feet, big enough to fill up the entire floor in the Reston YMCA’s gymnasium, as it did on Saturday afternoon. When complete, it will be close to an acre in size and Morissette hopes to display it on the National Mall in Washington on Sept. 11, 2003.
Until now, the project has been a labor of love for this one-income family of six, but the costs of building the organization and maintaining the quilt have become a drain. "We have to raise money, now," Morissette said. Saturday’s exhibit at the Reston YMCA was just the second such out-of-state showing. "We have come together to honor those so affected by these tragic events with a desire to heal and overcome," she said.
As much as she has tried to forget some of those horrific images from that day, Morissette says she never wants to forget those that lost their lives and those that risked their own in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Many in attendance echoed these sentiments. Harry Hopkins, EMS captain for Airport Authority Fire and Rescue at Washington Reagan International Airport, said, "The big thing about the quilt for me is, I have a 9-month-old grandson and I want something to be around to show and someday to explain what happened that day." Hopkins was one of the first responders on hand at the Pentagon that September day. "It’s part of history now. I don’t want it to go away. History books are taking our heritage away. They don’t talk about our forefathers like they used to. We need to preserve this and this is what the Heart of America Quilt is doing."
IN THE HOURS, days, weeks and months after Sept. 11, police and fire stations around the country were inundated with well-wishers and grateful neighbors. Some wanted pictures, others dropped off casseroles and cookies and still others just wanted to say "thank you."
In the aftermath of those events, a simple white sheet was left at the Reston Station No. 439.
Michael Regan, a lieutenant with the Fairfax County Fire Department, remembered the swath of fabric. "It didn’t seem like much at the time," he said, on Saturday. "We were getting so many flags, pictures, it was all sort of a blur. Then, a woman came in with a bed sheet and asked us to sign it. Well, now that I have seen it, I just wish we had thought our role out a little more than we did."
The 16-square-foot bed sheet, signed by men and women in Regan’s firehouse, is just one of the dozens of similar panels that help make up the Heart of America Quilt.
Regan, who was at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, will never forget what he saw and did that day. He hopes that this quilt will help ensure that the rest of the country will also not forget. "I hope a lot of kids see this quilt and learn about what happened that day," he said. "I feel real privileged to have been directly involved in the rescue and recovery at the Pentagon," said Regan, looking down on the quilt. "So, this quilt means an awful lot to me because we lost a lot of good firemen that day."
After walking around it and reading many of the individual panels, Capt. Thomas Wolfe, a battalion chief in Fairfax County, said he, too, was very impressed by the quilt. "The important and impressive thing about it is that this is not New York City. This is not just Washington, D.C. This is the United States of America coming together," Wolfe said. "This shows how strong our country is and that we will never forget. It means a lot because everyone has a hectic pace of life and it would be easy to forget."
But emergency workers were not alone in their praise of the quilt. Bob Simon, the founder of Reston, helped welcome the traveling memorial into his community on Saturday. "The quilt is a way of venting our emotions and a great way to raise dollars for a worthy cause. It is quite a national phenomenon," he said. "One thing about Americans that is special is that when we are hurting, we rally and we form a community. We open our hearts and our pocketbooks. The events of 9/11 showed how we came together when we need to and this quilt continues to show that spirit."
Herndon Mayor Richard Thoesen paid tribute to Morissette and thanked her for helping to ensure that those who lost their lives on Sept. 11 "will never be forgotten."
"America is full of kind and brave people," the mayor said, "and like this quilt, we are held together by a common shared bond."