Former Morris County Resident to be Remembered During Moment of Silence – Patch
President Barack Obama has called for a national moment of silence today at 11 a.m. in honor of those killed and wounded in the attack Saturday in Arizona.
Six were killed, including a former Towaco resident, and more than a dozen wounded, including the apparent target, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Phyllis Schneck, 79, who lived for years in the Towaco section of Montville before retiring to live in Rockaway during the summer months and in the winter in Tucson, Ariz., was fatally shot during the apparent assassination attempt of the congresswoman outside an Arizona grocery store.
Schneck has been remembered for her work with the Montville Women’s Club. A Rutherford native, Schneck, whose husband died in 2007, is survived by her three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild, according to the Associated Press.
The shooting also claimed the life of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, the granddaughter of former Major League Baseball pitcher manager Dallas Green.
Christina-Taylor was born the day of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and was featured in a book, “Faces of Hope,” on children who shared that birthday. Her grandfather managed the Philadelphia Phillies to their first World Series championship in 1980, and also managed the New York Yankees and the New York Mets.
Giffords is the wife of Mark Kelly, a NASA astronaut who grew up in West Orange. The Kelly family is admired in the community, where his parents were both members of the West Orange Police Department.
New Jersey leaders are reaching out to Giffords, who remains in critical condition. U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-8) will ask the nation to observe a Week of Solidarity to join all Americans in the wake of the tragedy when he and other leaders come together this morning at Passaic County Community College.
Giffords, who was meeting with constituents for the first “Congress on Your Corner” when she was shot, remains in critical condition.
A White House statement said Monday’s moment of silence will allow people to come together, in prayer or reflection, and keep the victims and their families close at heart.
Prosecutors on Sunday charged Jared L. Loughner, 22, with five federal counts, including the attempted assassination of a member of Congress.