{"id":131970,"date":"2026-03-07T04:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T04:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/131970\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T04:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T04:35:09","slug":"family-friends-of-clarks-summit-native-killed-on-9-11-want-plaque-to-remain-visible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/131970\/","title":{"rendered":"Family, friends of Clarks Summit native killed on 9\/11 want plaque to remain visible"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every time Michael Parry drives through downtown Clarks Summit, he says hello to a long-lost friend.<\/p>\n

A plaque at the convergence of State and Depot streets is dedicated to Laura Lee DeFazio Morabito, a Clarks Summit native killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI always glance over quickly and just say hello to my buddy as I pass,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"MikeMike Parry, friend of Laura Lee DeFazio Morabito who died on 9\/11, poses for a photograph on State St. near the borough\u2019s clock tower Friday, March 6, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

As borough officials plan to dismantle the plaque and the clock tower behind it almost 25 years after the attacks, Morabito\u2019s family and friends hope it will remain in a prominent location in the borough.<\/p>\n

Borough officials decided to take down the clock tower<\/a> because of its age and after determining it can\u2019t be repaired because it is located on private property. They plan to move the plaque to another borough property and have discussed Veterans\u2019 Memorial Park at State Street and Clark Avenue as an option.<\/p>\n

Morabito, a 1984 graduate of Abington Heights High School, was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 when terrorists crashed the airliner into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. She was 34. At the time, Morabito lived in Framingham, Massachusetts, and was a corporate sales manager for Qantas Airlines.\n<\/p>\n

Parry, who now lives in Newton Twp., grew up in the same neighborhood as Morabito and graduated from Abington Heights in the same year. He feels the park would not be an appropriate location for the plaque, dedicated in 2007, because Morabito wasn\u2019t a veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel it was right with Laura not being a veteran to be added in with the veterans because that\u2019s their place,\u201d Parry said. \u201cIt pays honor to our hometown girl that we all lost in the terrorist attacks on 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Abington Twp. resident Dave Abel, a close friend of Morabito and her family, said the plaque gets a lot of foot traffic, especially during events downtown like the Clarks Summit Festival of Ice. Veterans\u2019 Memorial Park, he added, does not get the same volume of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just more concerned about making sure that plaque stays center city, so to speak, on Main Street, so to speak, and not moved off on some beaten path where no one\u2019s going to see it,\u201d Abel said. \u201cI\u2019d rather it stay there, especially in this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

Jeff DeFazio poses with his sister, Laura DeFazio Morabito at their parents\u2019 home on Lake Kewanee in the early 1990s. Morabito, a Clarks Summit native, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. A plaque in her memory sits on the corner of State and Depot streets in the borough\u2019s downtown. (Photo courtesy of Jeff DeFazio)\n<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Abington Heights High School class of 1984 gather for a wreath laying ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in front of a plaque dedicated to their classmate, Laura Lee DeFazio Morabito. Pictured from left, are, Mike Parry, Amy Jenkins Yarns, Nora McGowin Suraci, Larry DeFazio, Laura\u2019s father, Lisa Thompson Dorunda and Sandy Hoban Davidock. (Photo courtesy of Mike Parry)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A wreath sits at the base of a plaque dedicated to Clarks Summit native Laura Lee DeFazio Morabito, who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks for the 20th anniversary of the attacks. (Photo courtesy of Mike Parry)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

Jeff DeFazio poses with his sister, Laura DeFazio Morabito at their parents\u2019 home on Lake Kewanee in the early 1990s. Morabito, a Clarks Summit native, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. A plaque in her memory sits on the corner of State and Depot streets in the borough\u2019s downtown. (Photo courtesy of Jeff DeFazio)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Parry, who donated money to put up the plaque, proposes moving it to the front of the Municipal Building, allowing it to remain in the center of the borough.<\/p>\n

With this year marking the 25th anniversary of the attacks, Parry hopes the borough won\u2019t remove the plaque from its current location until after Sept. 11. Abel said officials should take their time if they move it.<\/p>\n

Morabito\u2019s older brother, Jeff DeFazio, said he and his younger brother, Craig DeFazio,understand that the plaque is on private property and are OK with it being moved to a respectable location. He thinks the community would want it at another permanent site.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it moved to a location that was more enduring that wouldn\u2019t cause it to be subject to another move, I think we would honor that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019d be OK with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borough Manager Jennifer Basalyga said this week officials have not made a decision about the plaque. Solicitor Andrew Krowiak spoke with Jack Decker, who owns the property on which the clock tower and plaque sit, and said at this week\u2019s council meeting he is open to negotiating with the borough on an easement for the property, with the caveat that the borough reduce his sewer bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an agreement for an easement is mutually agreed upon, council would need a vote to accept,\u201d she said. \u201cIf that comes to fruition, discussions would continue regarding the clock tower, 9\/11 memorial and the electric panel on that property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decker said this week what happens with the plaque and the clock tower is up to the borough.<\/p>\n

Basalyga said if the plaque is removed, it will be done so respectfully and to a borough property. Basalyga has been in touch with Craig DeFazio on all developments with the plaque.<\/p>\n

DeFazio, who grew up in the borough and now lives in Manasota Key, Florida, said the plaque represents the moment in time and the loss that his family, the community and the country experienced on that day in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about the loss of her, but I think it\u2019s also the event itself and what everybody went through, the grieving that everybody went through and how something like that in New York comes right down to our small community in Clarks Summit,\u201d DeFazio said.<\/p>\n

It also represents how the community came together in the wake of the tragedy, he said. With the 25th anniversary approaching, DeFazio said the community should decide how they want to remember the attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a memory of the loss of something like this, not just for the nation, but how it affected us as a community, but also reflect how the community rose around its own to help,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Abel said 25 years after the attacks, Morabito and everyone who died that day should be remembered for the lives they lived. DeFazio said his sister had a wonderful career at Qantas; she traveled around the world, and in 2000 accompanied the executive staff of General Electric to the Summer Olympics in Sydney.\n<\/p>\n

Abel and Parry recalled Morabito as someone who lit up a room and was athletic. Abel remembered playing golf with Morabito and Craig DeFazio at Stone Hedge Golf Course in Wyoming County a month before the attacks.<\/p>\n

DeFazio said the plaque represents the best of the community, which came together in the wake of the attacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reflects more than just Laura. It reflects the zeitgeist of what took place, what that community did and was capable of doing and the impact that it has,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s way bigger than just Laura in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every time Michael Parry drives through downtown Clarks Summit, he says hello to a long-lost friend. A plaque…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1993,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-131970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-clarks-summit","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}