By:John C. O'Connell
Thousands mourn police officer
They came on Oct. 18 to mourn and to celebrate, to cry and to rejoice, to support and to be supported in their grief.
They came for Port Authority Police Officer Walwyn Stuart Jr. of Valley Stream, who died saving others at the PATH train station beneath the World Trade Center Sept. 11. And they came for Thelma, his wife, and Amanda, whose first birthday Walwyn missed by 17 days. .
He worked at Port Authority Post Number 1, the WTC train station to which New Jersey PATH passengers come each weekday morning.
Thelma went to work downtown that awful day as well She works on William Street, on the 11th floor.
The first plane hit before she got there.
"When I first got into work I called him," Thelma told the Herald last week. "They said he was ok. He was helping people, helping to evacuate people. And as soon as I got off the phone with his desk, the building came down. And so I just knew at that moment that that was it. It was so traumatic for me because I saw the building coming down. And I just knew.
"When we finally went downstairs they said to run toward the Brooklyn Bridge, and then the second building came down. It was just horrific knowing you're walking away, leaving your husband, knowing you can't even run toward him. I was trying to run toward him. I suffer from asthma, so all that soot and dust just engulfed me."
In the weeks after that moment, the waiting and the fear have been difficult.
"I was hoping and praying. My faith in God is really strong and I just really kept believing and hoping that he wasn't gone. I held on to that for a week or two, and I still do, but I know reality is more than a month has passed already and you haven't heard from him, that it's starting to sink in.
Stuart, 28, was a New York City Police Officer for five years before being promoted to detective investigator. When Thelma became pregnant with their first child a little over a year ago, Walwyn decided to give up his gold detective's badge and the NYPD for the uniform of the Port Authority Police Department. He had his family to consider now, he told his wife. He thought the PA job would be safer.
"He just loved his daughter, more than anything," Thelma said. "When he would come home late at night, oh my goodness. I would hear total silence [from baby Amanda's room], and I'd say, oh something is wrong, 'Honey, where are you?' And he's in the room, picking her out of her crib, hugging her and cuddling her, sitting in the rocking chair with her. I'd say, 'Honey, you know she wakes up at the sound of a pin!' He says, 'This is my time with my baby, I love my baby, this is my girl.' He just adored every breath that she breathed.
"He never got to see her first birthday. He looked so forward to that, the 28th of September. She turned one and he never got to be there. I just want her to grow up learning about how much her dad loved her."
Mayor Giuliani was there for the entire memorial service on Thursday, from 11 a.m. to about 2 p.m. He spoke words of comfort and of strength to the grieving widow.
Walwyn lived "a life of achievement and significant service to his fellow human beings, and you can't really do much more than that," Giuliani said. A photo of Walwyn was in front of the pulpit from which the mayor spoke.
"What we need to remember about Walwyn is that he was a man of courage and intelligence, sacrifice and good instincts and caring; that he was a hero before Sept. 11. What happened that day to Walwyn and to so many other heroes is that they all gave us a profound example of how we are supposed to act. They are our true heroes. Walwyn is our true hero."
Giuliani said, "I know the sadness is tremendous and I thank you, Thelma, for helping other people by sharing your strength. Now we have to make ourselves concentrate on their heroism. They saved more than 25,000 lives. Nobody has ever saved that many people before. They did this without a script."
PAPD Officer Stuart had stayed at his post after the attack began to guide people away, to be for all those fleeing in fear a beacon to safety. He sent a full train of passengers back out of the station, back to New Jersey, before the building crashed.
"They were saved because Walwyn and others stayed in and around the buildings to show people the way out and which way to go," Giuliani said.
"The worst part of this is for the children. There's no way to explain why daddy or mommy was taken from them. We can only say that daddy was one of these really exceptional people who will be a part of the history of this country in a beautiful and wonderful way."
The chief operating officer of the Port Authority spoke to the standing room only Tabernacle audience. Hundreds listened outside behind police barricades.
"I bring today two messages to the Stuart family from the 7,000 Port Authority employees, including the 1,400 Port Authority police officers," he said. "We give you our most heartfelt sympathies, and our deepest thanks. Thank you for sharing Walwyn with us. You loaned him to us to do an important job for us. We were unable to give him back to you, and for that I am truly sorry."
Jerry Cameron, the best man at Walwyn's wedding four years ago, called him a cherished and respected friend. "He was gifted in all that he did. He had a smile that could light the twin towers. Our loss is Heaven's gain."
Thelma Stuart appreciates all Walwyn's friends and fellow officers in the PA and the NYPD have done for her.
"The Port Authority police have been of tremendous assistance, taking me anywhere I need to go," Thelma said. "They've picked me up when I needed to go to any of the other memorials. I went down to ground zero, they picked me up.
I've gone to counseling at the Ramada Inn. I've been to the Javits Center, met with the President, the governor, and the mayor. Just anywhere I need to go. The detectives call me three, four times a day. They're just a tremendous help."
The first time she went to Ground Zero was Thursday, Sept. 13. "It was all still burning, and dangerous because I'm an asthmatic. I couldn't stay there long because it wasn't the healthiest thing for me to do."
She found some comfort in her second visit to the place her husband died. "I went down there again on Saturday, Oct. 6. For me it was therapeutic to just feel closer to him. We saw an enlarged picture of him and the other guys. It was helpful. It was devastating, but it was helpful to feel closer to him. And it was assuring to know that the Port Authority personnel are helping their guys to come out. I wanted to go down there to see for myself if they were there trying to get their guys out. And they were. I was comforted by that."
Thelma knows just how she wants everyone to think of her husband.
"I want him to be remembered as a loving and supportive husband, the best father that any child could ever imagine or hope for. He was attentive, patient, endearing, he just loved every being in her body.
"Our faith in God was so important to us," Thelma said. "We depended on God for everything. Throughout all these difficult moments now, I have leaned on God and He supports me. He gives me peace and comforts me. God will be a father to Amanda and He will comfort me.
"Walwyn's love for God was what really got him through some difficult times as a police officer. He just always put the Lord first and that's who got him through.
"That's who Walwyn was," Thelma said, "a very loving and affectionate man. Oh my, he would just shower us with kisses and hugs; it was overwhelming. It was too much, but now I wish I could get that hug one more time. I am so sorry all those times I said, 'enough hugs,' but he just always said, 'One day you're going to want my hugging and you're not going to get it. He was right."
