For a tough, strong-willed woman with a sense of heart, it seems as though hearts are the one thing that Captain Kathy Mazza of the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) could never quite escape.

A former cardiothoracic nurse, open-heart surgery patient, and the person responsible for instituting heart defibrillators as part of the PAPD's CPR training, Capt. Mazza, 46, was literally surrounded by hearts all of her life. And as of Sunday, a heart-shaped garden will forever surround the memorial that pays tribute to the life she lost on September 11, 2001, as well as the many lives she is personally credited with saving.

"She gave her life so that so many people could live," said PAPD Deputy Chief Robert Caron. He recalled that on September 11, she had so many opportunities to escape the buildings, but instead, she chose to pick up her medical bag and save lives. "She had a heart of gold."

Around 250 people gathered Sunday in what was once nothing more than a desolate field called "F-9" - located west of Staples Street between Elm and Walnut Avenues - to celebrate Captain Mazza's memorial dedication, as well as to help raise money for the Captain Kathy Mazza Memorial Foundation, which was established by the family and will provide funds and grants to the Nassau Community College Nursing Program and to St. Francis Hospital's Pediatric Care Facility.

"Kathy, the first female commanding officer at the PAPD Police Academy, is a 'True American Hero,'" said Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto. "This park in the community where she lived for many years, will serve as a reminder to all residents of her sacrifice."

Irene Kirch, a former college colleague of Capt. Mazza's remembers that when Mazza went in for open-heart surgery, she asked the doctor to take a picture of her heart, so that when people would ask her if she had one, she'd have proof.

Capt. Mazza's story will live on by the people who come to the park in the future, said Bernadette Castro, commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation. "This place was pulled out of obscurity by Captain Kathy Mazza."

Beyond the park's entrance there were crowds of people of all ages - many wearing shirts with a picture of Captain Mazza's face on them - eating, laughing, playing and talking about the memories they shared with the brave woman they were there to commemorate.

Captain Mazza's mother, Rose, looked small standing next to the six foot, black granite, rectangular memorial which is located in the center of the heart-shaped memorial garden. "She died with such honor," Rose said. "For a mother it's hard. She did it in the name of serving," she added, as she stroked her fingers along the engraved picture of her daughter's face.

Engraved at the bottom of the monument reads a poem written by John Mazza, Captain Mazza's father, titled My Fallen Flower. He said his inspiration for the poem came after a dream he had two weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the dream his daughter came to him in what he described as a "phantom curtain" and said to him: "'If you really love me, get off your butt and write something about me.'" The following morning he sat down to write that "something" and the words just came off the pen so easily, he said.

"My hand was guided by her thoughts," he explained.

The dedication ceremony officially began at 10 a.m. with the invocation and blessing given by Auxiliary Bishop John Dunne, who was accompanied on the stage by the entire Mazza family and several dignitaries.

"May [the park] always be a place where all persons of good will have a sense of tranquility and peace," he said. He added that he prays it will bring hope for tomorrow and reality of a world without terrorism.

Supervisor Venditto told guests that the park will see children grow, parents become grandparents, and give people who visit it the chance to pause and say 'thank you' to a good and decent person. Then he officially declared the park as "The Kathy Mazza Memorial Park."

Beautiful renditions of God Bless America and My Country 'tis of Thee were sung by the audience, who all turned and faced the memorial, as bagpipes were played in the background. An American flag was then raised onto the flagpole behind the monument, by two PAPD officers and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by the eldest Mazza sibling, John. Following, was the youngest Mazza sibling, Victor, who recited the names of the 37 New York and New Jersey PAPD officers who died on September 11, 2001.

Unexpectedly, at the completion of the 37th name, 37 white doves - representing each officer - were released from three white, wicker baskets draped in American flags, and danced in unison into the cloudless, blue sky as the bagpipes played on.

Following the ceremony and after a ribbon cutting at the park's balloon-arched entrance, most of the guests participated in the 5K Memorial Walk, led by John Mazza on his bicycle. The event raised $7,000 for the foundation which now has received a total of $30,000. "This is a climax of six months of hard work," John Mazza said.

The idea for the memorial came about in March of 2002, after a representative from Congressman Peter King's office called the Mazza residence to remind Rose Mazza to vote in that year's election. She told the representative her daughter's story and said she would only vote if she could have a meeting with Congressman King. The meeting was set, and with the help of Supervisor Venditto, The Mazza's street was renamed "Captain Kathy Mazza Way," and the plan for the park was set.

John Mazza, an engineer, sketched the layout and with donations from various local vendors, the memorial began to take form. Edie Katz, Mazza's former colleague at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and the same woman who taught Mazza how to perform open heart surgery in 1974, created and designed the heart-shaped garden to immortalize her lost friend, and the big heart she indeed knew she had.

Capt. Mazza's husband, Christopher Delosh said that his best memory of the construction was all the help he received in making it possible, especially from those people whom he did not know personally.

He admitted that he used to think that if he did something for someone, he should have received something from that person in return. But now, all he hopes is that instead, that person will go on and do something for someone else, and so on - causing a chain reaction.

"What goes around comes around," Katz said with tears in her eyes. "This all came from Kathy's big heart."