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by Sheila McKenna
Past chairman and piper in the New York Fire Department's Emerald Society Pipe Band. Honored with the Father Mychal Judge Memorial Award by Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens at its 2004 Great Irish Fair on Sept. 11-12. Pipe major in the Leatherneck Pipe & Drums, a band of former Marines based in Paramus, N.J.
BIOGRAPHY
54, native of Marine Park. After serving in the Marine Corps for six years, joined the fire department 22 years ago and was a firefighter assigned to Ladder 156 in Brooklyn. A non-job related injury a few years ago put him on light duty and he is currently assigned to work with the Brooklyn H.E.L.P. (Hospital Expedient Liaison Personnel) team at Kings County Hospital, which assists injured firefighters and their family members. Married and lives in Marine Park.
PROUD OF
"It was a great honor to receive this award because I knew Father Judge well. Besides being the chaplain for the whole fire department, he was the Emerald Society chaplain and the pipe band chaplain. We all knew him well, the whole band loved him. He was a very spiritual man and, through his actions and words, he helped us live our own faith.
COMMITMENT
"In 2002 I stepped down as chairman of the band after seven years. I was wiped out after 9/11. I helped to coordinate the parades, transportation, dealt with headquarters when it came to linear duty funerals, ceremonies and plaque memorials. There were over 420 of them. But I always kept Father Judge in my mind. I knew that he was looking down and smiling on us. People wondered how we did it. Sometimes it was six and seven days a week, from 5 in the morning until 10 at night for months. But what helped was our faith and love of the fire department. We loved the brothers and we wanted to give each of them a proper burial."
REWARD
"I joined the band in 1985 because I love Irish culture and music. I always wanted to play the pipes and they send a shiver down your spine whenever you hear them. All of us in the pipe band have been deeply affected by 9/11, but as draining as it has been, we continue to be very proud of what we are doing."
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