Always Remember Greg

Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Gregory Sikorsky

Letters Remain as Testament to His Goodness
Jan. 24, 2002

Luzia Sikorsky at first couldn’t read the flood of mail from Florida, Colorado and elsewhere that was delivered to her Spring Valley, N.Y., home. Eventually, she opened it. It taught her things about Gregory R. Sikorsky, one of her four sons.

People remembered the 34-year-old New York City firefighter for the positive-thinking man he had become -— and the considerate boy he once was. Letters and cards came from people he knew in high school. They told of how he helped them, in ways he probably had long forgotten.

A woman wrote of her angst-filled adolescence and a junior high school dance. Always the wallflower, she watched her classmates pairing off on the floor. Sikorsky surprised her by telling her she was pretty. He asked her to dance. The woman said “she would never forget him. It changed her life,” Luzia recalled.

Similar anecdotes filled letter after letter. “He helped out a lot of people, which I didn’t really know until now,” Luzia said.

Sikorsky, a 17-year volunteer firefighter with the Hillcrest Fire Co., craved adventure and didn’t require the security of terra firma. The licensed pilot took his youngest brother, Perry, on a flight to explore the skies. He enjoyed skydiving. As a scuba diver, he plumbed deep sea mysteries.

The adventurer with a gentle side helped people in the past. He still does. His acts of kindness, memorialized on paper, comfort Luzia, wife Marie, 3-year-old son Steven and other family members. Said Luzia, “It helps you, that he was such a good person and so many people loved and cared about him.”

GREG SIKORSKY

"New York City firefighter and former U.S. Marine Greg Sikorsky entered the World Trade Center to help victims of the terrorist attack.

Sikorsky, father of one child, was studying for a promotion test and was so dedicated to firefighting that he joined the FDNY five years ago. He became a volunteer 16 years ago with the HIllcrest Fire Co. He was a member of FDNY Squad 41.

Friends said Sikorsky had a soft spot for children and his dalmatian, Dominic, volunteering as a Big Brother and playing an active role in the company's fire prevention program.

""We all knew that when this happened, that he would be right there,"" said fellow volunteer Dean Hankinson.
""He's been on our mind since the tragedy.""

He is survived by his father, George Sr., and brothers George Jr., Perry and U.S. Army Capt. Ken, who is on high alert in Germany; and his beloved dog who spent hours searching through the rubble with Greg's father, two days after the attack.
""When the dog couldn't climb anymore,"" George Jr. said, ""the firemen passed him around.""

Friends spoke of Greg Sikorsky as a dedicated father who meticulously picked out stones for a rock wall at his home across the street from the service station.
Others talked about how he would clear snow from the grounds of nearby St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church after a winter storm.

""I can't say enough about my brother,"" Perry Sikorsky said. ""He is 10 times the man I am. I have hope.

"" Gordon Wren Jr., director of the county's emergency services, also was a volunteer in Hillcrest and lives on the same street as Greg's parents.
Besides being a top-notch firefighter whose potential seemed limitless, Wren said, Sikorsky was a devoted family man.
""I watched him with his son,"" Wren said. ""He wasn't with him because of parental responsibility. He just enjoyed being with him."""