“Bella’s our little girl now, and we’re gonna take care of her,” said Jarrett Katarski, who was stationed with Tolley, as he choked back tears during a eulogy.
“You’re gonna have 40 protective and overbearing dads looking over your shoulder now,” Katarski told the young girl, who wore her late father’s dress cap and clutched a blanket with his face on it during the funeral at St. Martin of Tours in Bethpage, LI.
Mayor de Blasio, whose father died when he was 18, assured the youngster she will find comfort in her father’s sacrifice.
“Sometimes of course you’ll wish you knew him better, you’ll wish you had more time, but you’ll never have to wonder about his character, what he believed in, how he used his life on earth,” de Blasio told Bella. “You will know he’s a hero. It will sustain you. It’s a gift that will help you no matter what you live through.”
“What Bella will know for rest of her life is that her extended family at the FDNYwill be there for her,” de Blasio said.
St. Martin’s pastor Patrick Woods recounted the tender moment when Tolley’s widow, Marie, broke the news to her young daughter.
“Bella, as wise as any ancient philosopher, says, ‘Mommy, daddy is too young to die,’” the pastor said. “In the numbness of her pain this is what Marie told Bella: ‘You know your daddy loved to help people — that’s what firemen do, they help people — and your daddy was a really good man at helping people.’”
“I can’t think of a more difficult conversation a parent could have with a child.”
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