Firefighter
Thomas Kelly
Ladder 15
Memorial
Service was
held on October 2, 2001
Sentimental
and Dependable
Firefighter
Thomas W. Kelly, 50, wasn't one for telephone chit-chat — "Hihowareyo,
here's Kitty" was his standard greeting as he turned a call
over to his wife — but his actions shouted. He quietly stuck
by his friends, worked a second job to help his widowed mother,
and at Ladder Company 15 in Manhattan was known as Mr. Dependable,
a mentor to the probies. But, his sister, Maureen Paglia said,
"Tommy never wanted praise for anything." Something else his
actions shouted: this Sinatra fan and father of two sons had
a big, squishy, sentimental streak. Raised in Brooklyn, he bled
Dodger blue so truly that he paid $1,420 for an original seat
from Ebbets Field. Firefighter Kelly, who lived in Staten Island,
collected bats, cards, statistics and baseball caps from special
events. He was so proud of his little brother Dennis that he
saved his sports trophies, newspaper clippings and diplomas,
from grammar school on, and presented them after the birth of
Dennis's second child. His wife saw that sentimental streak
on their first date, in September 1971. Mr. Kelly, then a steamfitter,
took her to his construction site, his grandest project: the
40th floor of 2 World Trade Center. Profile published in THE
NEW YORK TIMES on August 25, 2002.
SI
Live Article