SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Something just didn’t sit right with Katherine Bethea when she heard the trickle of Sept. 11 tribute activities planned to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. last week.

“I was sitting here reading the paper, and I didn’t see anything planned on the Eastern Shore, and my heart just hurt,” Bethea said.

And then she acted, not out of a personal connection to the tragedy but a sincere desire to reflect upon and remember the senselessness of the attacks and commemorate the loss of innocent life.

“When you sign up for the military, you kind of know you’ve got a 50-50 chance of coming home safe, but you know that going in. (The victims of Sept. 11) were just normal people going to work like you and me, and that’s not what they signed on for,” she said.

Bethea, a Spanish Fort resident who works for Kelly’s Graphics Printwear in Chickasaw, said the company has been printing T-shirts since 2002 with the phrase “Have We Forgotten” and she decided Friday was the time to get a few more in circulation.

The grassroots movement began Wednesday night — only two days before the anniversary — when Bethea and her boss, who is also her minister of music at First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort, pleaded with fellow parishioners to wear the shirts on Friday and take part in a moment of silence at precisely the moment the first plane struck the World Trade Center eight years ago. Bethea’s two daughters, who attend Faith Family Fellowship in Spanish Fort, followed their mother’s example and appealed to their congregation as well.

By Friday, Bethea said, an estimated 400 to 500 shirts were distributed, and groups across the Eastern Shore and beyond participated in the moment of silence.

“The point was to get people to remember this. The longer it’s been, the less people remember, and we shouldn’t wait for a particular anniversary to pay our respects,” she said.

Sharon Davis heard Bethea’s plea on the radio and dug out her “Have We Forgotten” T-shirt purchased six years ago for the day.

“I have a cousin and two nephews serving in Afghanistan, and all three enlisted after Sept. 11. They are proud of their country, and I am proud of them, and none of us will ever forget the day that changed all of our lives even though we didn’t know a single person in New York or Washington that day,” Davis said.

Bethea said she was “brought up to help other people” and said even though the commemoration was a last-minute operation, she is proud of her neighbors who feel as strongly about the cause as she does.

“We have to remember. We just have to,” she said.

Although the city of Daphne is not planning to formally commemorate the events of Sept. 11 until the 10th anniversary in 2011, Daphne High School did host a memorial ceremony prior to Friday night’s football game.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bob Riley ordered state flags be flown at half-staff last Friday to honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks and issued a proclamation declaring Friday a “Day of Prayer and Remembrance” in Alabama.

The state’s official ceremony remembering the Sept. 11 victims was held at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

The event was led by State Homeland Security Director Jim Walker and the director of the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, Sydney Hoffman.

Riley, who was on a trade mission in Europe, issued a statement urging all Alabamians to honor the men and women who protect the United States.