Firefighter Kevin Prior
Squad 252
Laid to Rest
on October 5, 2001
Street
Naming for FF Kevin Prior
Kevin
Prior was living the life he loved. He was a proud firefighter
in Special Operations Squad 252 in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
He was looking forward to taking the lieutenant’s test.
He loved being a firefighter… it was so much a part of
who he was. He thought he had the best job in the world and
he expected to have a long and proud career.
Kevin
and his fiancée Doreen spent three weeks in Ireland in
the summer of 2001. They enjoyed the hospitality of relatives,
and made a wish on the top of a mountain for a long and happy
life together. Plans were already under way for a wedding on
July 12, 2002, but September 11 changed everything. Kevin was
lost with five other members of his squad when Tower One collapsed,
as they were ascending the stairs to answer a mayday call from
another Rescue Company.
Born
and raised in Bellmore, LI, Kevin attended Saint Barnabas grade
school in Bellmore and Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville.
Following in the footsteps of his father who retired from the
NYPD in 1983, he served as a police officer in New York City’s
88th Precinct for one year before he was called for the FDNY
in July of 1995. Kevin also served in the Bellmore Volunteer
Fire Department from his early teenage years and most recently
held the rank of Lieutenant. He didn’t waste a minute
of his life… fishing, golfing (loved that 19th hole!),
skiing, scuba diving… he tried everything. He had a boat,
“Fire Escape” and loved being with his friends…
he had a great sense of humor and was so much fun to be with.
He was the life of any party. His friends will tell you he was
a “funny guy,” and today the stories of his antics
still liven up a room with laughter.
He
shared the same birthday (not the same year) with Frank, another
volunteer firefighter, and Kevin got such a kick out of calling
him for their mutual birthday and sharing a beer with him. Frank
got such a kick out of that too. Kevin would have been 29 on
January 18, 2002… Frank was 76. And, as Kevin would have
done, the mutual birthday was celebrated when Frank joined Kevin’s
family and friends for that traditional beer.
Kevin’s
body was recovered three weeks after the attack on the World
Trade Center. He is survived by his fiancé Doreen, his
parents, Marian and Gerard Prior, two older brothers, Gerard
and Dennis, his nephew John, age 8 and two nieces, 6 year old
Katie and 5 year old Erin, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.
Bellmore
Fire Dept. dedicates trucks to fallen 9/11 firefighters
Kevin's Memorial Card
Bellmore
FD Tribute
Squad
252 Tribute
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