Firefighter Joseph Spor
Ladder 38
(Detailed to Rescue 3)

Memorial Service was held
on October 13, 2001

 

Joseph Spor, 35, loved being a firefighter

He worked as a financial analyst in New York for a few years after college, but having grown up a firefighter's son -- a New York City firefighter's son -- Joseph P. Spor Jr.'s dream was to join the department himself.

Mr. Spor, 35, was accepted into the New York Fire Department in 1994, and in August won a transfer to the highly trained Rescue 3 unit in the Bronx, which was his father's unit.

"He always wanted to be a fireman. He loved his work. My sister was very proud of him," said Catherine Stevens of North Caldwell, Mr. Spor's sister-in-law.

Mr. Spor's unit was deployed to the World Trade Center the morning of the terror attack. The father of four was in the South Tower, trying to rescue people, when he was killed in the building's collapse.

"They were in the first tower that went down. He was on his way up. Rescue 3 was one of the best; that's why they were one of the first called," Stevens said.

Seven members of his team were lost in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Stevens said. Mr. Spor's remains have not been found.

"Joe was so physically fit. Nobody ever thought anything would happen to him," Stevens said.

Mr. Spor of Somers, N.Y., married Colleen Casey in 1992, and was a devoted father to their four children: Casey Ann, 6; Joseph Patrick, 4; Shannon Catherine, 21/2, and Caitlin Marie, 9 months. The couple would have celebrated their wedding anniversary Oct. 3.

Born in the Bronx, the youngest -- and the only boy -- in a family of six, Mr. Spor grew up in Somers and graduated from Somers High School. He then attended Iona College in New Rochelle, graduating in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

He worked for Milliken & Co. in Manhattan before joining the fire department. He was with Ladder Company 38, also in the Bronx, before Rescue 3.

Mr. Spor had an ever-present smile and a great sense of humor, Stevens said. Known for his work ethic, he was also a master carpenter with his own contracting business, building decks, home additions and custom cabinetry.

He was working on his own home at the time of his death, adding a playroom for his children and turning the older house into a center hall Colonial. Fellow firefighters have begun completing the work, Stevens said.

"They're really a brotherhood that is helping her through this," she said.

Mr. Spor also is survived by his father, Joe of Somers, and five sisters, Catherine Van Drew of Colonial Heights, Va.; Joann Peppard of Putnam Valley, N.Y.; Maureen Comiskey of Kent, N.Y.; Barbara O'Rourke of Carmel, N.Y., and Annamarie Tompkins of LaGrangeville, N.Y. His mother, Ann, died in 1980.

A memorial Mass was held Oct. 13 at St. Patrick's New Church in Yorktown Heights, N.Y.