Firefighter
Vernon Cherry
Ladder 118
A
Memorial Service was held
on October 19, 2001.
Laid
to Rest
on June 22, 2002
It
is the singing, more than anything else, that keeps Vernon Cherry
so vivid in their minds. A Brooklyn firefighter who moonlighted
as a wedding singer, Mr. Cherry, 49, sang it all and he sang
it everywhere: Barry White in the firehouse, Frank Sinatra at
weddings, the national anthem at Fire Department promotion ceremonies.
"He
would just sing," said Raymond Thomas, a firefighter who
worked with him for 11 years at Ladder Company 118 in Brooklyn
Heights. "He would be walking up the stairs, in the locker
room, taking a shower. He had such a beautiful voice. I used
to ask him: `Sing me a song, Vernon. Vernon, sing `Always and
Forever.' He wouldn't do the whole song, just short bits and
pieces."
Mr.
Cherry, a 28-year veteran of the Fire Department, was known
at Ladder 118 as "Vernon Mo," because he called everybody
else "Mo." And there was his lasagna, "Lasagna
Mo."
"He
put mushrooms in it," Mr. Thomas said. "He used every
pot in the firehouse. We tried to discourage him from cooking.
I mean we loved it, but he had to use every pot in the house."
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