By:KEITH GRANT
Two weeks away from giving birth to her first child, Jennifer Maerz walked calmly to the microphone in St. Ignatius Church and spoke to a full audience about her late, beloved husband, Noell.
He was always my angel. The only difference now is that he has wings.
Long Beach resident Noell Maerz was remembered in a service on Saturday, Oct. 13 that drew hundreds of mourners whose lives had been touched by their late friend.
Noell Maerz was in his 84th floor office of Tower Two the World Trade Center when the building was attacked on Sept. 11. A Long Beach resident for the last six years, Maerz was among the thousands lost when the towers collapsed. He would have turned 30 last month.
I planned a special birthday for him,Jennifer told the audience at St. Ignatius. A memorial is not what I had in mind. But instead of his birthday, we celebrate his life.
Maerz, a former quarterback for Hofstra, was known to his friends as a super athlete, competing at any given time in basketball, softball, biathlon, triathlons, marathons, surfboarding, etc. He was training for the upcoming New York City Marathon, which his father and brother will now run in his honor.
During the service, Father Bill Logan told of how Noell's love for kayacking often drove Jennifer crazy. But Maerz, he said, also owned the power of a smile that captivated hearts.
The service drew dozens of friends, his family from Lansdale, Penn., colleagues from Euro Brokers and Bogart's, where he bartended for many years, and local residents who simply came to pay their respects to a lost neighbor.
Noell and Jennifer met three years ago on the Long Island Rail Road. For months, Noell was known in Jennifer's family simply as the train boy
