By Matthew McGevna
July 30 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Paul Brady, a volunteer firefighter who was killed while preparing for a training session.
After a ceremony at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, the procession of family members, friends and Brady¹s department brethren moved to the firehouse on Broadway for another memorial. The fire department presented Brady¹s widow, Lisa, with a plaque bearing Paul¹s name and a tribute to his service. ³When I saw it, I absolutely gasped,² Brady said. ³It was overwhelming.²
³Paul Ryan Brady had two goals,² the plaque reads, ³to protect and serve his community, and to form true and long lasting friendships. His dedication to the department and his brother firefighters was readily apparent through his active participation and his ability to brighten our day with a witty joke and his smile.²
The department also presented Lisa Brady with a framed poster bearing the date of her husband¹s death and a Celtic cross with the inscription ³In Loving Memory² arching across the top. ³The mass was beautiful and the sermon was extraordinary,² she said. ³I was stunned by the music. It was as if every song was written for Paul.²
Brady was killed when he was standing on top of a rescue truck inside the station house. Another volunteer, apparently unaware that Brady was there, began driving the truck and trapped Brady between a piece of equipment on the vehicle and a metal ceiling joist. Brady fell from the truck, suffering massive head trauma both atop the truck and from the fall to the concrete floor. He was rushed to Nassau University Medical Center, where he died three hours later. He was 42.
Brady left behind not only his wife, but his father, brother, two sisters, nephews Ryan, Matthew, Chris, Tom, Matthew and Joe, nieces Katie and Noreen, and a volunteer force of more than 80 brothers in the Malverne F.D.
Brady¹s father has died since the accident. ³I think the loss of his son was very devastating for him,² said Lisa Brady, who added that the past year has been difficult to get through. She lost her own father to colon cancer just a few weeks after her husband¹s death.
³Everybody gets sad at times,² she said. ³They¹re trying to think of the happy times. Paul was a wonderful uncle. He loved helping people. And he loved the brotherhood of firemen.²
Lisa said that the past year was best illustrated by the behavior of her two dogs, Molly and Mac. She said that since Paul¹s death, whenever the fire alarm goes off, Molly, the chocolate lab, begins to howl, and Mac joins her. And when the train whistle blows at the time Paul would usually be coming home, Molly goes to the window and waits, as if hoping he will return one day. ³And I think that¹s how all of us feel,² Lisa said.
Following in his uncle¹s footsteps, Brady¹s nephew Tom has recently joined the junior fire department in his hometown in New Jersey. Lisa Brady said that is a testament to how Paul influenced those around him. She added that she was grateful for the volunteers who remembered her husband with such love. ³I would like to express my enormous gratitude to everyone for creating such a moving tribute to Paul,² she said.
At a recently built memorial wall across from the fire station on Broadway, visitors can see the Malverne Fire Department¹s tribute to its fallen brothers, which Paul Brady has joined.
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