By:Angela Marshall
He wouldn't have given up on her and she won't give up on him.
When Mary Geraghty heard of the attack on the World Trade Center, she knew her husband would be one of the first firefighters there, and she knew he was probably inside when the towers collapsed. But she never thought he might be gone.
"Eddie's invincible," she thought as she watched the tragedy unfold on television. "He'll be okay."
She ran to comfort other friends. It wasn't until night that Mary became concerned.
Then the call came that they had found her husband's body. The phone rang again and the firefighters said they were wrong, it wasn't him. Hope lived.
And hope still lives for Mary who believes with all her heart that her husband and his men are alive somewhere in the crevices of the ruins, waiting to come home. "My one saving grace is that Eddie is with his men and that they're comforting each other and that he's not alone," she said during an interview last week.
"He has so much to come home to."
Steve and Timmy Geraghty, Ed's brothers and fellow firefighters, continue to search for him every day. He would be so proud of them, Mary said.
The firefighting family has a history of on-the-job miracles. Ed's father, a retired captain, was involved in a horrific fire when Ed was 14, the same age his oldest son Connor is now, and he was rescued.
Timmy was at the scene when a Father's Day blaze this year in Astoria took the lives of three New York City firefighters. When Ed learned that his brother was there, he allowed himself one human reaction. He vomited. And then he did what a firefighter is trained to do, his job.
Timmy made it out alive and Ed planned the funerals for those who didn't. The department has long looked to Ed to make sure proper respect is shown to those who give their lives for others.
"This was Eddie," Mary said, pointing to a picture of him climbing a ladder on a building engulfed in flames. "[Fire fighting] was in his blood. There was nothing else he could have done."
Mary unconsciously tugged at the chain around her neck and clutched the heavy rings hanging on it. They are Ed's chief's ring and his wedding band. She kissed them and continued to talk about the man she chose to spend the rest of her life with.
Over the years, she has seen him do so much for others, not just as a firefighter but as a father and a community member.
The Christmas season has always been one of Ed's favorite times of year and he strives to make sure it is special not only for his children but for those who are less fortunate as well. He takes special pleasure in delivering gifts to children through the Adopt-A-Family program.
"He was a gentle giant," Mary said of her 45-year-old husband. "He was 6-foot-3 and every ounce of mush."
Ed is also a Eucharistic minister for St. Agnes Cathedral. In the past four months he became much more focused on his faith, Mary said. "He kept saying I just want to be a better person."
One reason he loves being a firefighter is that it allows him so much time to spend with his children. Ed and Mary have three children, Connor, who attends Kellenberg Memorial High School, James, 11, who attends South Side Middle School, and Colin, 4, a kindergartner at Hewitt.
"He just adored being a father. That was his biggest blessing," Mary said. "He was never too busy to be with the kids."
And his children knew it. When the Herald ran a Father's Day contest this year called, "Why Dad's my hero," Colin sent in the winning entry. "I think my dad is the best dad in the entire world. He plays baseball, basketball, soccer and golf with me. He is never too tired to play, even if he worked all night. He is the nicest daddy I know. I love my daddy."
Ed is the soccer commissioner and coach for the Rockville Centre Soccer League's kindergarten boys team. He also coaches the under 12 b travel team. Steven Tighe, who is also missing, coached the under 12 a team.
Running is a big part of Ed's life and in 1996 he started a running club in his neighborhood. Between five and fifteen people meet at the corner of DeMott and Virginia avenues every morning at 6. Two roses are tied to a pole at the corner for Ed.
Theresa Watterson, one of the regular runners, said she misses Ed's laughter. When she walks down to the corner some mornings she sometimes thinks she sees "Big Ed" as they call him standing there waiting.
Last week the running group participated in a Juvenile Diabete's walk and held hands, thinking of Ed.
Ed wasn't the richest person in town monetarily. "But," he often says, "ain't nobody as happy as me."
Friend Paul Murphy recalls Ed saying all the time, "'It just doesn't get any better than this.'... He loved his family and his job. He was crazy about everything in his life."
He understood his own mortality too, Murphy said. One time Ed turned to his friend and said, "Paul, if I was to die tomorrow, I've been blessed."
Ed is the captain of Battalian 9 and has held numerous positions in the New York City Fire Department, including executive assistant to the fire commissioner.
Ed holds a master's degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Safety is high priority for Ed, who created a national program for firefighters called Back to Basics. "It's such a skilled profession," said Mary, who feels many people don't understand the amount of hours firemen put into drilling and training. "They work so hard."
