Texoma marks 9/11's 25th anniversary: Gainesville pairs ceremony with blood drive, Denison gathers in Sherman

Gainesville Fire-Rescue scheduled a remembrance ceremony and a Carter BloodCare blood drive for Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Elsewhere in Texoma, Denison invited residents to join first responders and city representatives for a commemoration in Sherman at 8 a.m. the same day, according to the city's official notice.

Gainesville's announcement said the observance would honor those killed in the attacks and responders who later became ill from their service at Ground Zero.

The Gainesville ceremony was set for 9 a.m. at Fire Station 3, 308 N. Culberson St., where the city's Sept. 11 memorial contains steel recovered from the World Trade Center. The blood drive was scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Valley Creek Church, 201 N. Culberson St. Denison's notice placed its gathering at the Grayson County Courthouse.

The focus on sick responders follows a toll that has kept growing. The New York City Fire Department reported in September 2025 that more than 400 of its members had died of World Trade Center-related illnesses, more than the 343 killed in the attacks. On Sept. 2, 2026, the department added 36 names to its World Trade Center Memorial Wall for deaths tied to rescue and recovery work. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum's 2026 ceremony included a seventh moment of silence for people who died in later years of illness or injury connected to the attacks, according to the museum.

The federal response reaches beyond New York. A September 2026 overview from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the World Trade Center Health Program has served more than 145,000 responders and survivors, and provides care outside metropolitan New York through a nationwide provider network. The program is authorized until 2090.

Gainesville's pairing of remembrance and blood donation has local precedent. Fire-Rescue spokesperson Tamara Sieger said Gainesville held its largest blood drive to date in the days following the 2001 attacks. The city's official calendar also listed a Sept. 11, 2025, remembrance blood drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Steven K. Fleming Public Safety Facility.

The memorial has changed locations. Gainesville's adopted fiscal 2021 budget records the relocation of the Sept. 11 memorial, a bell and a retiree monument to the new fire substation, whose grand opening was Sept. 11, 2020.

Other communities use stair climbs to mark the date. Organizers said Oklahoma City's 15th annual Sept. 11 Memorial Stair Climb took place Sept. 12, 2026, with participants ascending 110 floors, and proceeds went to the Oklahoma Firefighters Foundation. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation traces the tradition to five Colorado firefighters who climbed 110 flights in Denver on Sept. 11, 2005. The foundation reports thousands of participants each year in more than 40 cities.

According to AmeriCorps, the national tradition of service on the anniversary developed after victims' families began organizing in 2002. Sept. 11 became a federally established National Day of Service and Remembrance in April 2009.