Highway named in honor of local 9/11 victim

FREMONT – A portion of Ohio 19 was renamed the Teresa Miller-Martin 9/11 Memorial Highway on Monday, after the former Sandusky County resident who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon.

A moment of silence was followed by the plaintive tones of “Taps,” played by a member of the Toledo National Guard at 9:37 a.m. on Monday, to honor the many lost lives at the Pentagon when it was hit by the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77. All 64 people aboard the plane and 125 people in the Pentagon died in the attack.

The road naming dedication ceremony was held at the Sandusky Township Fire Department. With family members attending, state and local dignitaries spoke in honor of their loss and the importance of Miller-Martin’s sacrifice and memory.

State Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, wrote the legislation honoring the life of Miller-Martin with the renaming.

“She invested her life in others,” Click said. “We’re going to observe a moment of silence, to remember Teresa, and the sacrifice she made 22 years ago, today, at 9:37 a.m., when that plane flew into the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C.”

Family receives proclamation, copies of road sign

Click also presented the family with an official proclamation in her honor and small copies of the road sign from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Miller-Martin was a civilian employee working at the Pentagon during the 9/11 attack, where she lost her life. She was a 1974 Lakota High School graduate and former resident of Millersville.

Click worked with the family in choosing the section of road to be renamed, partially because of the first responders stationed on that section of highway. The Sandusky Township Fire Department is located on the section of Ohio 19, between Link Road and Interstate 90, with the new name.

“Just the sign being posted, when you see that 9/11 Memorial Highway, is going to bring back memories for me,” said Sandusky Township Fire Chief Dean Schneider. “It’s going to bring back memories for anyone who goes by there and relives their story and remembers that one of our county residents gave her life, just as we would if we were put in that same situation.”

Public officials participate in 9/11 memorial ceremony

Also among the many officials who spoke were Sandusky County Sheriff Chris Hilton and County Commissioner Charlie Schwochow. Proclamations also were issued from the offices of U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance and from the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Click said he worked on the renaming project for more than two years. He explained that the original bill he had written was ultimately passed as part of the state transportation omnibus budget.

After the ceremony, Dan Miller spoke about his older sister, who was a budget analyst.

“This is just a great tribute to my sister. She was a great bubbly personality, just a life of the party type of person,” Miller said. “She loved her church. She loved the kids she taught in Sunday school. She was just a great all-round person. Just can’t thank Rep. Gary Click, and all the others, for putting this together.

“She was a budget analyst for the Army. I don’t know how she got that position, but she was extremely intelligent,” Miller added.

He pointed out that on Oct. 1, 2001, his sister had received a Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the Department of the Army. She served from 1993 to Sept. 10, 2001, as a branch chief for the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army, in the Budget Division.

rlapointe@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Sandusky County highway named in honor of local 9/11 Pentagon victim