Christmas Boy

Like many adults who are still children at heart, Scott M. Davidson loved Christmas. In fact, his friends in Staten Island called him Christmas Boy.

One year he drove up to Perry Seridge's apartment with Christmas tree lights strung around his car, all lighted up. When cautioned that wiring lights to the car battery could be unsafe, he held up a finger and began rummaging through the pile of sweaty basketball clothes in his back seat.

After a few minutes, Firefighter Davidson, 33, a member of Ladder Company 118 in Brooklyn Heights, found what he was looking for: a fire extinguisher. Triumphantly, he proclaimed, "I got it covered."

Firefighter Davidson was also a bartender; the father of Peter, 8, and Casey, 4; a substitute teacher at Intermediate School 49 near his home in Brooklyn, and an unabashed patriot long before the World Trade Center fire that he died fighting on Sept. 11.

"He loved all things American," Mr. Seridge said. "I used to think it was kind of rare, really, especially for a young guy who had never been in a war. Looking at it now, it was nice. He'd be really happy now that everyone would have flags out."
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 19, 2001.

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