EVERETT — The public is invited to a free 9/11 remembrance program Friday evening at the Everett Civic Auditorium, where organizers will present a newly recorded anthem based on “The Fireman’s Prayer” and honor the daughter of the Wichita firefighter who wrote the poem.
Monumental Talks 2026, the third annual remembrance event, begins at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at 2415 Colby Ave. Admission is free. No tickets or registration are required. The program is nonpartisan and open to everyone. This year’s theme is “The Visible and Invisible Cost of Freedom.”
Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine will serve as master of ceremonies. The program honors first responders and veterans and includes remarks from Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin. Don Schwab, Everett City Council president and a retired fire division chief, is scheduled to read “The Fireman’s Prayer.” A color guard from Naval Station Everett also will take part, and the winner of a high school essay contest will read their work.
A centerpiece of the evening is the Fireman’s Prayer Anthem, which organizers describe as the first anthem written for American firefighters. Composer Charles-Henri Avelange recorded the work this summer at Sony Pictures Studios’ Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage with a 90-piece orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.
The poem behind the anthem was written in 1957 by A.W. “Smokey” Linn, a Wichita firefighter, after he and his crew responded to a fire in which three children died.
Linn’s daughter, Sharon Holycross, 75, is flying in from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to accept the Fireman’s Prayer Award. Friday will be the first time she and Avelange have met. Los Angeles County Fire Department Deputy Chief Larry Collins is traveling from Los Angeles to present the award.
The event is presented by the Hartley family and continues a local remembrance series inspired by the Hartley Mansion and the community’s ties to military service. Organizers say the program is meant as a public reminder of the cost of freedom and the work of those who answer emergency calls.
Doors open for the 7 p.m. program at the auditorium on the Everett High School campus. For more information, visit hartleymansion.com/monumental-talks-2026.
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
