In a family of 10 children like the Lynches -- this one Democrat, that one Republican, some of them independents -- disagreements happen. And at family dinners, Michael, the seventh oldest, was peacemaker. He would don a silly hat, utter a one-liner, and "they would just realize we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously," said his father, Jack.
Michael Lynch, 31, was a firefighter with Ladder Company 32 in the Bronx, and diffused the tension there too. Every time a Federal Express truck drove by station, he would yell, "WILSON!" and run after it like Tom Hanks in "Cast Away." Out on call, he would scream at his friend Bill Owens from the back of the truck, "O-WEN!" — as the horrible mother does to Danny Devito in "Throw Momma From the Train."
In November, Firefighter Lynch was scheduled to marry Stephanie Luccioni. But the Lynch family has a news video of Michael and firefighters from Engine Company 40, where he was on rotation on Sept. 11, responding to the World Trade Center attack. In it, Michael Lynch's face is somber. It was about 9:44 a.m. The men were rushing down a stairwell in 4 World Trade Center, and heading underground toward the south tower.
New York Times
Published: December 15, 2001