WHITPAIN >> On a beautiful Monday in September, under cloudless blue skies eerily reminiscent of one of the darkest days in American history, Christie Worthington’s voice faltered briefly under the weight of her emotions, but she quickly summoned the strength to carry on.
“Brent was, and will always be, my hero,” she told a large, rapt crowd gathered outside the Veterans Resource Center at Montgomery County Community College’s Blue Bell campus. “He was courageous in his fight with PTSD and made me one proud sister. My family and I miss him and think of him every single day.”
The somber occasion was, in part, a ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But it was also meant to remember Brent Worthington, of Lansdale, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 32 after a short illness.
A U.S. Marine who enlisted just prior to 9/11 and later served in Iraq, Worthington enrolled at MCCC after his discharge and eventually became president of the college’s Veterans Club. On Monday, the college installed a plaque in Worthington’s honor near the flagpole next to the VRC building. The new marker bears an American flag and the inscription: “Dedicated to the men and women of Montgomery County Community College who proudly served and protected their country.”
Worthington’s sister told the throng of student-veterans, active military members, MCCC faculty and other students, law enforcement officers and other onlookers that her brother “came home with invisible wounds (and) because of those wounds, he dedicated his time to helping veterans.”
“His proudest moments were from the work he did here,” she said of Worthington, who was also president of the American Student Association of Community Colleges in 2013-14, as well as a volunteer firefighter and paramedic in Montgomery County. “He tried to help the club and its veterans in any way he could. He pushed people to be better and was an inspiration to many, myself included.”
Michael Brown, MCCC’s coordinator of veterans services, explained that Worthington’s family donated money to the Veterans Resource Center, which decided to install the plaque because Worthington “epitomized what it means to be a marine and a leader,” adding that it was a “very meaningful thing” to ensure his name was permanently attached to the center about which he was so passionate in his lifetime.
During brief remarks, Montgomery County Sheriff Sean Kilkenny – who is also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and a member of the Montgomery County Community College Board of Trustees – noted that the Veterans Resource Center serves nearly 400 student-veterans enrolled at MCCC’s Blue Bell and Pottstown campuses.
“We have all come back from a deployment and felt a little different – even if you didn’t see combat or see a comrade die, you come back a little different because you have been away from your family and your friends and your support structure for years,” Kilkenny said, alluding to his own feelings of isolation after returning home from five years of active duty.
“When veterans have those moments that they’re feeling a little isolated, or they’re feeling a little disjointed, they know at Montgomery County Community College they have a place to come for camaraderie, they have a place to come for support – academic support and emotional support – and that is so important for all our veterans,” he said, thanking the Worthington family for their financial gift to the VRC.
Brown said with both pride and frustration that MCCC’s Veteran Resource Center is one of only a precious few such facilities at colleges in Pennsylvania.
“It’s really a place of respite and something that (student-veterans) cherish, frankly,” he said.
State Rep. Kate Harper, R-61, delivered an impassioned speech paying tribute to those who died on Sept. 11, 2001, and to others who were inspired to serve their country and their communities – either in the military or as emergency first responders – by the horrors of what unfolded that day.
“Like us, they were Americans,” Harper said of those who perished 15 years ago. “They were just pursuing their daily lives and out of the clear blue sky … came death and destruction plotted by radical Islamic terrorists holed up in a cave or a compound half a world away. 9/11 victims were killed simply because they went about being Americans.
“Some of those lost on that day were our neighbors, and their families are still grieving, of course, 15 years later,” she continued. “I think it’s very appropriate that the Montgomery County Community College, a representation of our community, has a flagpole and a ceremony dedicated to our veterans and to the memory of 9/11.”
Offering heartfelt thanks to veterans and first responders at Monday’s ceremony, Harper said, “We’ll fly the flag here to remember 9/11 defiantly, to show that we are still here as Americans and reverently to remember those who died and always to honor those who run toward danger and risk their lives for their fellow American citizens.”
MCCC President Kevin Pollock echoed Harper’s sentiments, thanking everyone who’s ever donned a uniform to serve others. He challenged the assembled crowd to unite and “push yourself to be better” in Brent’s memory.
Christie Worthington said that she intended to take up the torch for her late brother and his work with student-veterans that was so vitally important to him.
“I already have a few things in the works, and I will do so in his honor,” she said. “I hope I make him proud.”
