When
Scott A. Larsen finished a shift at the firehouse "He
was very good with the tools; he fit right into the place,"
said Brian Cleary, his friend from Ladder Company 163
off he'd go in pursuit of more activity, usually with his three
children. He outfitted them with Rollerblades, and got them
onto their bicycles on summer days. He could spend an entire
day at the beach, then fix dinner on the grill. During the midwinter
school break, he packed everyone into the car and drove from
their home in Glendale, Queens, to Disney World, stopping to
spend the night in North Carolina, to buy sparklers in South
Carolina, to sample as many Dairy Queens as possible below the
Mason-Dixon line.
It
meant 12 hours of driving at a stretch, but he loved it. On
arrival, Firefighter Larsen, who was 35, headed for Space Mountain,
where he usually rode solo. "He'd try to convince the kids
to go on it," said his wife, Carolann. "Once he bribed
them with a stuffed animal. They came off scared like anything."
The
children are Marisa, 9; Brenda, 8; and Scott, 5. On Sept. 13,
their little brother was born. Mrs. Larsen named him August,
a name she and her husband had chosen.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on May 19, 2002.
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