"I Think Now We Can Be At Peace"

Joseph Vigiano was in the third grade at Eagle Elementary School on Sept. 11, 2001, the day that his father, also named Joseph Vigiano, died while responding to the attacks on the Twin Towers orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden.

Nearly 10 years later on Sunday, Vigiano, now 18, learned of bin Laden’s death from a text message from a friend.

“I was relieved and thanked God,” Vigiano, of Medford, said about his feelings after hearing the news.

The family of Alfred Maler, a Patchogue man who worked on the 104th floor of Tower One, will be together Monday night.

“The report came on that the President was going to give us some news and we waited to find out what it was, and I think now we can be at peace,” said Beverly Maler, Alfred’s mother.

“He was 39, had a beautiful wife, Laura, and two beautiful children,” Maler said.

Alfred’s sons were ages three-and-a-half and six months old when he was killed. They are now 14 and 10, his mother said.

“We’re all together this evening and it will bring peace to our family finally,” Maler said.

Samuel and Renee Stahlman, of Patchogue, who lost their son Eric in the tragedy, both were glad to hear the news.

Samuel Stahlman, 86, said that he actually spent Sunday at the September 11th memorial by the Great South Bay before finding out the news.

“What I thought about when looking at that memorial down the bay, was how come we haven’t caught bin Laden yet after 10 years,” Stahlman said. “And then when I heard it last night, I was elated because this has been a long time coming.”

Renee Stahlman said that friends and family have called their household throughout the day about the news.

“We are very happy about it, and justice is done to some extent,” she said.

Eric Stahlman, employed as a broker in the World Trade Center on 9/11, died at the age of 43. He left behind a wife and two children.