By Jonann Brady
Gerard Brown, 74, died on March, 12, 2002 after a brief illness. Brown, a long-time Baldwin resident, served with Baldwin Fire Department just over 49 years, making him the longest serving member of the department to date.
With three other sons -- John, Jerry and William -- all current members, the Brown name has become synonymous with the Baldwin Fire Department. Taken together, the Brown family has served over 125 years as firefighters.
Brown joined Hook and Ladder Company No. 2 in 1953. In 1958, he was awarded a Legion of Valor citation for rescuing a woman from a burning building. He served as captain of the department in 1962. Brown worked as a union electrician and served in the Navy during World War II.
A chauffer and trainer, Brown trained drivers well into the 1990s. In his younger days, he was known as the first guy to arrive on the scene. Tom Gruber, another long-time department member, said he and Brown often tried to beat each other to the house in order to snag the coveted driver's seat, and his dedicated rival often won the race.
Brown became known as "Pop" not only to his sons and extended family members but to the young firefighters he mentored.
Bob Quackenbush remembered fighting his first fire at the Tropicana Restaurant in Freeport with Brown in 1977. As a tentative rookie, Quackenbush said, "he just took me by the back of the coat and led me in. He was so calm and self-assured....He was a mentor and a teacher to many, many people."
Besides being a role model, Brown was also a friend to younger firefighters.
George Carl, a 30-year member of the department, grew up around the corner from the Browns on North William Street and was friends with John and Jerry throughout school.
Carl said, "He taught everybody the ropes." But beyond that, said Carl, "he was a fishing buddy. We all went out on the boat for days at a time."
Jerry Brown, Jr., now chief of operations in the department, agreed that his namesake was more than a father figure. "He was a strict Irish dad, but we became friends. We spent 30 years hanging out as friends," he said.
Jerry said he and his wife Cheryl would often take motorcycle trips out East with both his dad and mom, Theresa, who didn't ride on the back of her husband's bike, but piloted her own.
Theresa Brown, who was a Mohawk Indian and grew up on a reservation in Canada, ended up attending a girls' Catholic school in Brooklyn. Brown attended a nearby boys' Catholic school and the two met during the frequent undercover missions the boys made to the girls' school. Married in 1949, the couple raised six sons together -- John, Jerry, Timmy, Jamie, Gene and William.
Brown is survived by 11 grandchildren -- Sean, Brian, Erin, Tara, Lindsey, Christine, Catherine, Danny, Megan, Sara and Patrick. Brown was also told on Thanksgiving that he would soon be a great-grandfather, as grandson Sean and his wife were expecting. He is also survived by a brother, Jack, of Las Vegas; and a sister Margaret of Chicago.
Brown was preceeded in death by his son Tim in 1985, and his wife Theresa, who passed away in 1989.
As Brown's sons carried his American-flag draped caskets up the church steps on a gray Friday morning, a white dove perched on a telephone wire and looked down on the proceedings.
At a gathering at the Rose Boulevard firehouse after the service, Brown's daughter-in-law Cheryl said the dove was a fitting tribute, perhaps a sign from his wife Theresa, "coming back to visit."
But the real tribute, everyone agreed, was in the sheer number of friends and family who came to the church and the party afterwards to say a final good-bye to a much loved man.
