Grayson County 9/11 tribute set for courthouse on attacks' 25th anniversary

Grayson County's September 11 tribute was scheduled for 8 a.m. at the county courthouse in Sherman, 100 W. Houston Street, to remember the people killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks and to honor first responders, according to the city of Denison's official announcement. That announcement described the gathering as honoring heroes and remembering the dead, and listed local first responders and city representatives among those taking part.

Commissioners took up the ceremony at their September 8 meeting, describing it as a commemoration of the attacks' 25th anniversary and acknowledging Captain Guzman for the work of organizing it, according to the court's meeting record.

No primary-source account confirming that the ceremony was held has been located. The event is reported here as announced and scheduled.

The date has drawn the county together before. The Denison Police Department's 2024 annual report records participants coming together as Grayson County on September 11, 2024, for a ceremony honoring those who died in the attacks.

What the morning looks like is left to the community that holds it. Texas made September 11 Texas First Responders Day in 2003, calling for ceremonies in public schools and other places while allowing each governmental entity to decide its own appropriate observance, according to the Texas Education Agency's compilation of state law. The federal frame came first. Legislation approved December 18, 2001 named the date Patriot Day and asked for yearly presidential proclamations encouraging local observances, flags at half-staff and a moment of silence. The Serve America Act added a National Day of Service and Remembrance in 2009.

That latitude shows in how differently North Texas communities keep the day. Grapevine announced a free 1.3-mile walk, MARCH 455, to follow its 2026 remembrance ceremony, with each participant wearing the photograph and name of one person who died and walking from the city's Flight Crew Memorial to Peace Plaza. Grapevine dedicated that memorial on July 4, 2008 for the 33 flight crew members and their passengers killed in the attacks, and dedicated a firefighter memorial on September 11, 2013. Grayson County's announcement set its ceremony at the courthouse.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum counts 2,977 victims, including 343 New York City firefighters.

The health consequences have run on for decades. The federal World Trade Center Health Program reported in August that enrollment was still rising and that more than 100,000 members rely on it for care tied to certified September 11-related conditions. The program sets no enrollment deadline, treats eligible members through a provider network reaching all 50 states and is authorized through 2090, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.