William J. Mahoney A Firefighter, 'Great Father'
and Cool Coach - November 4, 2001
On his first day with Rescue Co.4 five years
ago, Billy Mahoney helped his company drag an unconscious woman
out of a blazing apartment in Woodside and then watched the firefighters
erupt into a fistfight and food fight in the Queens firehouse
kitchen minutes later. He took in the mingled stink of blood,
smoke and flour and grinned at his new colleagues. "I think I'm
going to like it here," Mahoney said. A Lakeland volunteer firefighter
who once was mischievous enough to lob a meatball at the face
of an angry chief, the 38-year-old Ronkonkoma resident was a loving
father of four whose loss is also mourned by the Connetquot Youth
Association, where he coached 11-year-old baseball players. The
body of the 15-year city fire department veteran was recovered
last week in the rubble of the World Trade Center. A funeral Mass
for him will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Joseph's Church
of Ronkonkoma after family visiting hours Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.
and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Moloney Lake Funeral Home in Ronkonkoma.
"He adored me and I adored him, and he was a great father," Mahoney's
wife, Donna, said, remembering how he loved to play ball with
sons, Billy, 12, and Joseph, 9, and to tease his daughters, Denise,
15, and Shannon, 14. Mahoney was a former New York City police
scuba diver who continued to use his skills with the fire department
and with the recovery effort after the TWA Flight 800 crash. "He
was part fish," said Rescue Co. 4 Lt. Tim Kelly. He also loved
to use those scuba skills in his free time on spearfishing trips
in Long Island Sound with Ray Smith, a Rescue Co. 2 firefighter
who had been close to him since they were both teen members of
Lakeland Junior Fire Department. Mahoney was as naturally gifted
at baseball as he was fighting fires, Smith recalled, and more
than once won the prize for the longest drive at charity golf
outings. "It seemed to be an innate ability with him," Smith said.
"I always felt I had to try a little harder, and look at things,
but he just did it all naturally ... almost effortlessly." When
a firehouse argument got too hot, Mahoney would cut the tension
by smashing a plate between the combatants. But with his closest
friends he'd rather talk about plans for his kids and about his
favorite books. One of those was "Tuesdays With Morrie," the bestselling
account of a dying professor's wisdom. As a coach, Mahoney was
known for his compassion with the kids. He wasn't one of those
screaming Little League coaches, friends recall; he preferred
the quiet approach, taking a kid aside and giving him a confidence
boost and some inspiration. The kids repaid him with trust and
respect. And next spring the youth association plans to install
a memorial boulder and dedicate one of the fields at Ronkonkoma's
Duffield Elementary School in memory of Billy Mahoney. -- Elizabeth
Moore (Newsday)
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