Thomas G. O'Hagan 'True Gentleman' Loved Sons and
the Beach May 10, 2002 The day after Thomas O'Hagan and his bride
arrived in Hawaii on the island of Kauai for their honeymoon in
1992, a Category 5 hurricane drove home what, his wife said, she
knew deep down all along: She couldn't have made a better choice.
As Hurricane Iniki peeled the roofs of nearby structures, the
chandeliers jiggled and the ceiling pulsated in the hotel ballroom
where they and more than 1,500 other guests had been evacuated,
Andrea O'Hagan recalled. In his usual calm, assured manner, her
husband led her to the basement of the building. They and the
others returned to their rooms after the storm blew over, O'Hagan's
wife said, but she couldn't help but give thanks for their good
fortune after awaking to the swath of devastation Iniki cut. She
paused further to count her personal blessings, she said, after
learning that her husband had earlier scoped out the basement
before seeking refuge there. "In a way, it was the firefighter
in him," she said. "But by nature, it was also in him to take
charge." She said she has no doubt that her husband, a lieutenant
in Engine Co. 6 in lower Manhattan, went into the World Trade
Center towers that September day with his usual take-charge attitude.
A 20-year veteran firefighter, O'Hagan, 43, planned to retire
this year and embark on a new career. One of 11 siblings, O'Hagan
was new to fatherhood. His twin boys, Patrick and Pierce, had
just turned 18 months when the terrorists took his life. She and
her husband weathered five years of frustration and disappointments
trying to conceive the boys, his wife said. But by Sept.11, they'd
had the twins and things were just beginning to jell. They had
moved into a new apartment in Riverdale, where her husband grew
up. They planned to buy a home in the Hamptons, where they, the
kids and their dog, Jezebel, could be near the water. "He was
a big beach lover," his wife said. O'Hagan had been spending time
in the Hamptons since his teen years. He bartended out there,
his wife said. He also moonlighted, tending bars in the city.
That and a cookie route he ran with his brother-in-law, Tommy
Hart, was his second job. After his sons were born, all that took
a back seat. He was in his element around them, she said. "I can
see him now coming through the door with his arms outstretched
saying, 'How are my boys today? I love you.'" He had no qualms
about showing them off, riding them around his neighborhood in
their double stroller, often stopping along the way to visit with
his parents, Helen, who died last year, and Frank. Trying her
best to calm the twins as she spoke on the telephone, she confessed
their "terrible twos" stage is pushing her patience to the limit.
"They're in this stage of fighting over things," she said, apologizing
for the interruption. "He was the one with all the patience. I'm
learning as we go along." O'Hagan's family was his life. But cooking,
a skill he honed at the firehouse, was his other love. Just about
every night she was treated to one of his gourmet-like creations,
his wife said, lamenting how she regrets not paying more attention.
"Now, I'm burning hot dogs and overcooking the chicken." She said
friends and family still ask for his recipes, especially his coleslaw
and chowder. He was everything and more than she could have hoped
for in a husband, she said of the man she'd been married to for
nearly 10 years. "He was just a true gentleman, a very warm, giving
person." He also was a pragmatist. If they could have one of those
comforting, heart-to-heart talks they regularly had, she said,
her husband would probably say something like: "Raise the boys,
keep them and yourself happy, and move on." --Collin Nash (Newsday)
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