Lieutenant
Kevin Donnelly
Ladder 3
Memorial
Service was held
on October 6th, 2001
Laid
to Rest
on March 18, 2002
Fun
Is the Beach
Fire may have provided Lt. Kevin Donnelly of Ladder Company
3 with his livelihood, but what he loved was water. Born under
the hot July sun, he got a job as a lifeguard at the town pool
in Wantagh, while still a teenager on Long Island, said his
mother, Cecilia. As an adult, he found any excuse to head for
the water, even when some other task beckoned. "He kept a bathing
suit, a towel and goggles in his car at all times, just in case,"
said his longtime companion, Mary Coughlin, "and in the summer,
he'd add two beach chairs, a towel and a bathing suit for me."
The two of them might be driving along, on their way to Home
Depot or some other store to run errands. And Lieutenant Donnelly,
43, would turn to her, and say: "You know what? We can do this
another time. Let's go to the beach." He was not persnickety
about his beaches, though he preferred those on the ocean. He
was hoping to become a lifeguard again, on some Long Island
strand. North Shore, South Shore. "He wouldn't have cared what
beach he ended up on," Ms. Coughlin said, "as long as it was
on the sand and near the water." Profile published in THE NEW
YORK TIMES on November 23, 2001.
Long
Island.com Article
Newsday
Article