Edward D'Atri, 38, FDNY lieutenant, Little League
coach
He was off-duty the morning of the Trade Center attacks, but rushed
to the scene to help his squad - By Alysha Sideman Advance staff
writer Friday, 10/05/2001
If Lt. Edward D'Atri were able to talk to family
members one last time, his wife knows just what he'd say. "The
FDNY was in his blood. If Eddie had to pick the circumstances
of his death, this would have been his way to go. He'd say that,"
said his wife, Linda. "The firefighters we knew would always say,
'If I ever went into a burning building, I'd want Eddie behind
me,' " she said. Mr. D'Atri, 38, a member of Squad 1, Brooklyn,
was off-duty on the morning of Sept. 11. A courageous decision
to report to the scene of the attacks in Lower Manhattan has left
him among the thousands of missing victims of the World Trade
Center disaster. Family members said he left his Bay Terrace home
around 9 a.m. after he heard about the attacks. A witness saw
him going up the staircase in Tower 1 asking where the other firefighters
in his squad were located. Born in Birmingham, Ala., he was brought
to Queens as a boy. As a teen-ager he relocated to Graniteville,
where he remained until his late 20s. He lived in Willowbrook,
Oakwood and Dongan Hills before settling in Bay Terrace in June.
Mr. D'Atri began his firefighting career in 1984 when he was just
21 years old. He served in various units in Brooklyn. After his
promotion to lieutenant in 1994, he served in Rescue Co. 2 and
Rescue Co. 4 before being assigned to Squad 1. A graduate of Port
Richmond High School, where he played on the baseball team, he
had planned to enter the nursing program at the College of Staten
Island this fall. In his free time, Mr. D'Atri enjoyed working
out and in 1987 his efforts paid off when he was bestowed the
body building title of Mr. Staten Island. He also took karate
classes and loved to read, particularly books on philosophy, quotes
and sayings. "He was looking for something within himself -- searching
in those books for something to make him more at peace," said
Mrs. D'Atri. More than anything else, Mr. D'Atri loved to spend
time with his two boys, Anthony, 10, and Michael, 9. "He was a
great father. The boys were his life," added Mrs. D'Atri. He managed
his sons' Great Kills Little League team. He also took his boys
on many father-son trips to Point Pleasant, N.J.; Florida; Dorney
Park, Allentown, Pa.; Hershey (Pa.) Park; the movies, and bowling.
But his boys loved, most of all, when he'd take them to the firehouse
and let them sit in the fire truck. "He even let them ride in
the truck on real fire calls -- when they weren't too dangerous,"
his wife noted. In addition to his wife, the former Linda Scaramuzzino,
and his sons, Anthony and Michael, surviving are his mother, Alta;
his stepfather, Alex; three brothers, Joseph Princetta and Anthony
and Vincent D'Atri; a sister, Michelle Princetta, and his grandmother,
Dorothy. There will be a memorial service Thursday from 1 to 4
p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Colonial Funeral Home, New Dorp.
A memorial mass will be held Oct. 12 at 9:15 a.m. in St. Charles
R.C. Church, Oakwood.
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