Tough Guy or Pussycat?
When Billy Lake was 7 years old and it was time
for
dinner, his mother, Helen, always knew where to find him: at the
firehouse two blocks away, where Billy would peer at the trucks
and chat with the men. "He loved to be over there," Mrs. Lake
said. On Sept. 10, Firefighter William Lake, 44, celebrated 20
years with the Fire Department. To mark the occasion, another
firefighter from his company, Rescue 2, in Brooklyn, whipped up
a dinner of roast beef, shrimp and chocolate mousse for everyone
on duty. Firefighter Lake had all the trappings of a tough guy:
a Rescue 2 tattoo, a Harley- Davidson motorcycle, hands terribly
chapped from the time he dug through concrete to rescue two laborers
from a collapse at a construction site. "If he was in the military,
he'd be a marine," said Firefighter Scott Stromer, a friend. "If
he was a hockey player, he'd be the goalie." But to really know
Firefighter Lake was to know his tender side: to see him dote
on his son, Kyler, 7, his mother and his cat, Boxy. "A tough guy
with a cat?" Firefighter Stromer asked. "Think about it." Profile
published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on March 3, 2002.
Return
to William's Home Page