Remembering Ronnie Gies, hero

Friends, family members pay tribute to firefighter lost in World Trade Center attacks
      On Tuesday, Sept. 11, Carol and Ronnie Gies of Merrick took a 6 a.m. walk, talked about their three sons and enjoyed coffee together. By 7:30 a.m., Mr. Gies, 43, was on his way to Queens for an overtime day tour with the New York City Fire Department.
      "We had a wonderful morning," Carol Gies said. "I gave him the usual three kisses, said 'I love you,' and then I said something I've never said before he leaves for work. I said, 'See you tonight.'" But her husband, a city firefighter since 1988 and former chief of the Merrick Fire Department, never returned home.
      Mr. Gies' company, Squad 288 in Maspeth, Queens, was dispatched to the World Trade Center, which terrorists struck just before 9 a.m. An amateur video obtained by the Gies family shows Mr. Gies and members of his company preparing to enter the burning building just before the first tower collapsed. At press time, Mr. Gies and five other Squad 288 members were among the more than 6,000 people still listed as missing.
      Immediately after the terrorist attacks, Carol Gies tried every possible way to reach her husband. She kept calling his cell phone and the firehouse. But each attempt was unsuccessful. By late afternoon, she still hadn't reached him.
      "I knew something was wrong when I did not hear from him all day," said Gies. "He always kept in touch. Ronnie would have gone to end of the Earth to get to a phone."
      She was not, however, prepared for the tragic events that would later unfold. "Did I think something had happened? Yes," Gies said. "Did I think he wasn't coming home? No."
      During the days after the attacks, Gies said so many thoughts raced through her mind. "First, I pictured him sitting in a void, bitching with his friends that he did not have a cup of coffee," she said. "Then, I prayed that he wasn't suffering under a piece of steel or bleeding to death."

Family man and friend
      A life-long Merrick resident, Mr. Gies attended Birch Elementary School, Merrick Avenue Middle School and John F. Kennedy High School. He met Carol Felice, formerly of Bellmore, when she was 17, and they were married three years later. Last month, the Gieses celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.
      Jodi Simmons, who grew up with Carol Gies, and whose husband, Chris, is a volunteer in Merrick and a city firefighter, said, "Ronnie adored his wife and his boys. There was nothing he wouldn't do for them."
      Ronnie John, the Gies' 16-year-old son, agreed, saying, "He did everything for us so we could have what we wanted. You only had to ask once. He was as close to perfect as he could get."
      Ronnie John also said that Mr. Gies was as dedicated to baseball as he was to his family and the fire department. "There isn't just one specific thing I will remember about my father," he said. "But the one thing that sticks out now is the strong bond we had through baseball. He taught me so much." Mr. Gies also coached a baseball team of 17- and 18-year-olds, which made the playoffs this year.
      The Simmons' 7-year-old daughter, Nicole, remembers "Uncle Ronnie's" passion for baseball as well. "I played baseball with him sometimes," she said. "He was nice, a great fireman and a good daddy."
      Losing Mr. Gies, said Merrick Fire Department Chief John Fabian, is like losing the brother he never had. The two became close friends almost three decades ago, volunteering their time for the Merrick Fire Department and working the same schedule at Delta Airlines. Mr. Gies served as best man in Fabian's wedding, and their children have grown up together.
      "He was my friend, my co-worker, my brother," said Fabian. "We didn't always agree, but we kept each other in check. When you have a friendship like the one we had, it makes it even harder" to lose Mr. Gies.
      Although he only knew Mr. Gies for two years, Stuart Richner, Herald publisher, remembers him fondly. "He was a true gentleman," said Richner. "He was the kind of person who stood out. Even though I did not know him all my life, I came to value his friendship in the short time that I did."
      When a fire burned the Gies home a few years ago, friends, neighbors and fellow firefighters helped the family rebuild the house from the ground up.
      Mr. Gies lived his life helping others, so he was not used to getting help, Richner said. "When the fire burned his house, the hardest thing Ronnie had to do was learn to accept help from other people," he said. "It wasn't in his nature to accept help from others. It's ironic because here's a guy who spent his whole life, and died, helping others."

A fireman's fireman
      Mr. Gies joined Merrick Friendship Company in 1976, worked his way up, serving as lieutenant, captain and, from 1990-1995, head of the department.