Come Secret Santa time, children in the Schoales family hoped one particular relative would pick their name. “Everybody liked to get Tommy because he was a big spender,” said Edward Schoales, father of 27-year-old firefighter Thomas Schoales. Uncle Tommy was a softer touch than a bunny’s ears. Nieces and nephews knew he could never say no to buying toys or watching their sporting events. His five brothers and sisters knew he could never say no to helping them move.Buddies at the fire station knew he could never say no to a game of baseball, basketball or touch football (“You named it, he liked to play it,” said his dad, who coached him in Little League.) So, it was no wonder that the firefighter with the New York City Fire Department’s Engine 4 couldn’t say no to helping rescue people at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. “He was easy going,” said his father, a fire battalion chief in the North Bronx. “He helped everybody out. Being the youngest, of course, with the others getting married and moving into new houses, he was always there, painting and baby-sitting.” Bronx-born Thomas Schoales was the youngest of six children. He was a sports enthusiast, playing baseball and basketball in high school and rooting for the New York Rangers hockey team. In July and August, the Stony Point, N.Y., man was best man at the wedding for one sibling and in the wedding party for another. Edward Schoales is thankful his son got to be part of the two weddings. “It would have been horrible,” he said, “if we [had] waited until this July and August.”

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