Our missing friends

      Noell Maerz is scheduled to turn 30 this month, and until told to do diffenently, his family intends to have a celebration as big as they come.
      "When he comes home, we're going to have the biggest 30th birthday party ever," said wife Jennifer.
      A Long Beach resident for the last six years, Maerz has been among the missing World Trade Center employees since last Tuesday's terrorist attack. A bond trader for Eurobrokers, Maerz had an office on the 84th floor of Tower Two. At their home on Roosevelt Boulevard, the family continued to hold onto hope that Maerz will be found and the couple can move as planned into their new New Jersey home, complete with their first child, due next month.
      To Jennifer VanManen and her mother, Noell Maerz was simply "the train boy" for months as Jennifer rode the Long Island Rail Road to work.
      "I was watching him for months, and didn't even know he was watching me," she said. Finally, he approached her and the two went on a date around the Irish Day festival three years ago.
      "We were together every day since," Jennifer said.
      A native of Lansdale, Penn., Maerz is known to his friends as a super athlete, competing at any given time in basketball, softball, biathlon, triathlons, marathons, surfboarding, kayaking, snowboarding....Neighbors said he made them tired just watching him.
      But more than an athlete, he is described as an impressive human being.
      "He was a handsome man," friend Todd Broccolo said. "In great shape, but just easy to approach. He was so down to Earth and always made you feel comfortable."
      "He just sucked you in," Jennifer said. "People were instantly drawn to him. He had such an impact on people's lives. Such a sincere person. And he did it just because it made him happy."
      The community outpouring of support for the family and affection for Maerz, who worked for several years at Bogart's on West Park Avenue, has overwhelmed the family.
      "The support has been enormous," his father-in-law John VanManen noted. "From family, friends, neighbors....it's been tremendous. We still have hope."


sub: Ken Marino
Former LBFD volunteer

Photo 09192

      All Ken Marino knew was figthing fires.
      "It's all he ever wanted to do," his mother, Mary Ann, said. A native of Oceanside, Marino gave more than 10 years as a volunteer to the Long Beach Fire Department. He joined the department after moving to Long Beach in 1987, three years before he become a New York City firefighter. He remained a volunteer in Long Beach through 1997, when he moved to Mineola. Most recently, he and his wife Katrina have lived in Monroe, N.Y., with their children Kristine, almost 4, and Tyler, one-and-a-half.
      A member of the elite Rescue One, Marino is among the more than 400 missing New York City firefighters, police and emergency medical services workers.
      "We were always afraid something like this could happen," his mother said.
      The family has vigorously sought answers and information on Marino since last Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Center. Marino was among the first firefighters to respond to the scene, less than an hour after a visit from his wife and kids at his 43rd Street fire house. The family has spent several days at the fire house since the tragedy, receiving comfort from the firefighters, if not information on Marino's fate.
      Marino's sister Lynda, 24, has gone to great lengths to find some clues about what happened to her brother. Last week, she went on Fox television to describe him for people.
      "We gave people all of the information we could think of," she said. "Any scars, what he was wearing, anything they could use to identify him."
      "Now we're just waiting," Mary Ann said. "It could be months."
      A track star and member of Oceanside High School's Hall of Fame, Marino wanted to be a firefighter since he was a child. He worked his up the ranks to become a member of Rescue Four in Queens, the squad that lost two of its members, including Harry Ford of Long Beach, in the Father's Day fire in Astoria. Marino had transfered to Rescue One last year, but was still deeply affected by that tragedy.
      "They are such a united family," his mother said. "They really believe in what they do. They really are heroes. They're not afraid."
      "This was his dream," she added. "He couldn't wait to get on [the fire department]. When he got on, he wanted to go to the busiest fir house he could. he wanted to save people. He wanted to rescue people."


sub: Terry Hutton,
Former LBFD volunteer

      Former Long Beach Fire Department volunteer Terry Hatton is among the most decorated New York City firefighters. He has received the NYFD's Medal of Valor, and as captain of Rescue One commands 25 firefighters and three lieutenants.
      A Rockville Centre native, he is the son of retired NYFD chief Ken Hatton.
      Terry Hatton has been missing since the Trade Center tragedy, ironcially the scene of one of his greatest rescues. A year ago, he led a mission that saved 12 people trapped in a malfunctioning elevator on the 78th floor of Tower Two.
      A 21-year veteran of the department, he most recently has lived in Manhattan with his wife, Beth Patrone, who is Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's executive secretary.


sub: Michael Kiefer,
Long Beach lifeguard

      Long Beach resident Bill Quick met Michael Kiefer five years ago, and almost instantly liked what he saw. The young Franklin Square man owned a deep desire to be a firefighter, and was relentless in pursuing that dream.
      "He took every test he could so he could become a fireman," said Quick, a 20-year New York City firefighting veteran.
      Kiefer, a Long Beach lifeguard who has been missing since the Trade Center attack, had attended John Jay College in Manhattan because of its fire department cadet program, and became an Emergency Medical Services worker several years ago to help speed his path towards firefighting.
      "He knew it was the fastest way for him to become a fireman," Quick said. "He just kept it in the back of his mind, 'I'm going to be a fireman.'"
      Barely a year ago, Kiefer realized that dream. He was assigned to Ladder 132 in the Bronx, but was currently on rotation in Manhattan. He had already been fighting fires for years as a volunteer in Franklin Square, Freeport ("Becase Franklin Square wasn't busy enough for him," Quick said.) and Hempstead ("Because Freeport wasnt busy enough for him.")
      Quick said Kiefer would never stop picking his brain about firefighting techniques. "He would pry and ask me how to fight fires, how to force open doors, how to open a roof. He kept asking all the time."
      "His mom said, 'He wants to get on the job so bad I'll buy him a fire truck,'" Quick said. Kiefer came from a family of swimmers, and Quick said he was liked wherever he went. But he was never happier than having finally gotten on the New York Fire Department.
      "He was in a constant search to fight 'the red devil,'" Quick said. "It's a terrible thing to die. If you have to die, you should die doing something you love."


Editor's Note: If you have a friend or loved one missing since the World Trade Center attack, you can share their story or a photo with the Herald by calling 569-4000 Ext. 213.