Queens Chronicle – April 25, 2017
by Christopher Barca
The last five days have been unimaginably difficult for the family of William Tolley, the Bethpage, LI firefighter who died after falling off a roof while battling a blaze in Ridgewood last Thursday.
But in the immediate aftermath of his death, colleagues and complete strangers have rallied around those who loved Tolley with his Myrtle Avenue firehouse in Glendale — adorned with flowers and old photos of him — serving as the center of their universe. In an emotional press conference on Monday, Tunnel to Towers Foundation CEO Frank Siller announced his group will be paying off the mortgage on the Tolley home — which the Ladder Co. 135 member shared with his wife, Marie, and their 8-year-old daughter, Isabella — in order to “make sure the family has one less burden to think about.”
Tunnel to Towers was founded to honor Stephen Siller, an FDNY member who ran from Brooklyn to the World Trade Center through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel shortly after the first hijacked plane hit the North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001.
Siller, the brother of Frank Siller and cousin of foundation chief operating officer John Hodge, was one of 343 FDNY firefighters to die that day.
The group now provides financial support to the families of fallen firefighters, police officers, military members and emergency service workers around the nation.
“It is our responsibility to take real action,” Siller said. “That we just don’t say words, but that we show it and we live it.”
After announcing the mortgage payment, Siller turned to the 14-year FDNY veteran’s sobbing widow and his smiling daughter standing behind him, offering a simple, yet heartbreaking compliment of their departed loved on.
“Your daddy is a hero,” he said. “Your daddy is a hero and everyone here will be here for you forever.”
Making her first public comments since her husband’s death, an extremely emotional Marie Tolley thanked Tunnel to Towers and the countless people who have left flowers or otherwise offered their condolences for their love and support.
“Bella and I and our entire family are trying to get through this together,” Tolley said, wiping away tears with one hand and holding her daughter close with the other. “We just want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts. I know Billy would be so grateful.” Just three days earlier, dozens of firefighters from across the borough and hundreds of area residents had descended on the Glendale firehouse for a powerful bunting draping ceremony and prayer service last Friday.
The sound of “Amazing Grace” played on bagpipes and muffled tears filled Myrtle Avenue, and the emotion of the moment proved overwhelming for Capt. Rich Blasi, the commander of Ladder Co. 135.
Breaking down in tears multiple times during his remarks to reporters, Blasi said Tolley was more than a colleague. He was family.
“This job, which we take for granted every damn day, you don’t realize how dangerous it can be. But he loved it,” Blasi said. “I worked with Billy his whole career. I loved him.” Speaking on behalf of Tolley’s family was his older brother, Robert, a 10-year military veteran himself.
With tears streaming down his burly, bearded face and FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro’s hand on his back, Tolley said it pains him to know he was unable to protect his beloved baby brother, though his brothers in the department were.
“They were there with him in his final moments because I could not be, and I will always be grateful for that,” Tolley said. “Thank you so much for coming out today. God bless you.”
The late firefighter’s wake is scheduled for Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Chapey and Sons Funeral Home in Bethpage, LI. After a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. on Thursday at St. Martin of Tours Church in Bethpage, Tolley will be cremated.
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