Courtesy photo Brian Kinney, a Bishop Guertin High School graduate who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was honored with a memorial plaque unveiled Tuesday.

NASHUA — Seventeen years ago, Brian Kinney, 29, was on United Airlines Flight 175 headed to Los Angeles for a business trip when his plane was hijacked and crashed into the south tower at the World Trade Center.

Kinney, a 1991 graduate of Bishop Guertin High School, is described by baseball coach Mike Lozeau as a “truly dedicated student-athlete, a respected leader, a kind soul and a friend to all who had the pleasure to meet him.”

Tuesday, as Americans across the country remembered where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, a day that shaped the nation, Kinney was honored in a small ceremony at Bishop Guertin. A plaque dedicated to him was placed at the school’s baseball field.

“It is in his memory and his compassion for others that this memorial plaque is being dedicated to him here at the BG baseball fields,” Lozeau said in his opening remarks.

Students were asked to silently reflect on how they might be more kind as a way to honor Kinney, as well as what Sept. 11 means to them. The oldest students at the school, at 18, are only just old enough to have been alive when the planes hit the towers. The freshmen, only 14 or 15, know the terrorist attack as an event that happened before their time.

Ben Danielson, a student in the class of 2019 and a member of the campus ministry, offered a closing prayer asking for comfort for those who lost loved ones on Sept. 11.

“Help us to honor the lives of those who died, through our thoughts and our actions,” he said, “Fill us with love and forgiveness, and help us to live peacefully with each other. As we see pictures and hear memories of the suffering and confusion of Sept. 11, help us to remember all the good that you have put in your world.”

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