On one arm, Benjamin Suarez had a tattoo of his wife's name, Sally. On the other was a tattoo of a dragon entwined with the emblem of the New York Fire Department. They spoke of his two great loves.
Sally Suarez said her husband, 35, was about to end a 24-hour shift with Ladder Company 21, at 38th Street, when he called to tell her he would be late getting back to their home in Brooklyn because "I have to help the people." It was the last she heard of him.
Mrs. Suarez spends her days remembering how open and generous he was. "Everybody loved him," she said. "There was not one place we would go that people didn't know him. I loved that."
Because she worked six days a week and his schedule was more flexible, he tended to accompany their three children to school events like plays or football games. "Sometimes he would take the whole company with him," she recalled.
New York Times
Published: October 3, 2001