Y Post – April 25, 2017
by Abigail Gepner and Natalie Musumeci
The 8-year-old daughter of tragic hero firefighter William Tolley has been going through his locker at the firehouse to remember him, his widow said Monday.
“My daughter loves everything here. She knows that things have been moved and where they are. She goes through his [firehouse] locker. She’s looking through everything,” said Marie Tolley, standing with daughter Bella at William Tolley’s firehouse, Ladder 135/Engine 286, in Queens.
William Tolley, 42, fell to his death from a bucket ladder while battling a blaze last week.
His Glendale firehouse is now adorned with makeshift memorials and dozens of bouquets of flowers and wreaths in honor of the 14-year FDNY veteran.
“Bella and I and our entire family are trying to get through this together. But we just want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to the members of the firehouse who have been with us every second,” said a tearful Marie, dressed in all black.
“I know that Billy would be so grateful and proud because he loved his job,” she said.
Meanwhile, officials from the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced at the firehouse Monday that the mortgage on the family’s Bethpage, LI, home will be paid off with an undisclosed amount of money the charity has raised.
Frank Siller, the foundation’s chairman and CEO, told Bella Tolley, “Your daddy is a hero.
“It’s just unbelievable that things like things like this happen,” Siller said, referring to Tolley’s death. “Firefighters go out there every day to protect their community, and there is a real possibility that they may not come home and make the ultimate sacrifice so that our community can live like we do.
“In this instance I’m making sure that Billy’s family is taken care of and that their mortgage is taken care of…that when they lay their head down they have one less burden to worry about,” he added.
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said, “We can’t take away the pain, and neither can the Tunnels to Towers Foundation. What they can do and what they have been doing for firefighters, fire officers, police officers and members of our armed forces is easing the burden going forward.”
Marie added, “Billy cared very deeply about firefighters, policemen, first responders and the military. The Tunnel to Towers does so much for those groups and their families. It’s overwhelming that they’d come to Billy’s firehouse to support us.”
A funeral service for William Tolley is scheduled for Thursday.
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