9/11 sunset candlelight vigil helps North Texan keep promise to "never forget"

Across North Texas and the nation, people paused Friday to keep a promise: Never forget 9/11.

"It was the darkest day in America... the darkest day in New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C.," said Evangelina "Vangie" Perez of Grand Prairie.

Even the memories remained painful.

"My family was in New York City, and to find out where they were and friends and church people that I know (that) worked in the towers, or close by," she said. "It was frantic."

At the time, Perez lived across the river in New Jersey. Like many Americans, she vividly recalled the chaos, uncertainty and fear that followed the attacks.

"It was this uncertainty," Perez said. "What is going to happen next? Are we in a state of war?"

As Lower Manhattan disappeared beneath a cloud of dust and debris, Perez emerged from her basement searching for hope. She found it in the flame of a candle.

"It was so spontaneous!" Perez said, recalling the silent symbols of unity that appeared throughout her neighborhood.

"Home after home... we started putting candles outside, and you could see up and down the street, there were candles. Either by the driveway or by the fence... There were candles throughout the street. And I felt that that somehow we were joining in that silent prayer, that silent vigil, and that silent moment."

In the wake of tragedy, Perez said the nation came together in a way she had not seen since.

"Everybody was putting American flags outside," Perez said, her eyes filling with tears. "It was a moment that it didn't matter what color you were, what socioeconomic strata you were from. It didn't matter who you worshipped. All that mattered is that we were together as Americans."

For Perez, an annual 9/11 silent sunset vigil became a tradition she carried from New Jersey to Florida and, for the past two decades, to North Texas.

She invited others to grab a candle and join her in remembering a time when Americans mourned together.

"Putting a candle out there, it's your way of remembering what happened and those who died, of honoring the heroes, the first responders," Perez said. "It's a way of being together once again."