BALDWIN HERALD, October 18, 2001

Always a hero to his family

Brian McAleese, NYC fireman, remembered

By JACKY GERZEMA

Brian McAleese loved his job. As a New York City firefighter at Engine Company 226 on State Street in Brooklyn, he said firefighting was in his blood. His father, Jack, was a firefighter and his brother, John, still works for the FDNY.

But that love couldn't save him. Brian, 36, was one of over 300 firefighers lost at after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

"He loved to be a fireman," said his wife, Dawn McAleese from their Baldwin home. "The fire department didn't always get the respect it deserved. Our friend used to joke with him and say, 'You know Brian, when you go to work, you're not putting out fires every day.' He told her that his job was not a normal nine-to-five job, He said, 'When we go to work, we don't know if we're coming home that night.' He told the kids all the time that daddy's job was putting out fires and saving people's lives. He never told them how dangerous it was. And this wasn't a normal fire [The World Trade Center tragedy]. We never thought it was going to be us. We were always more worried about our kids."

The McAleese family moved to Tennyson Avenue Baldwin in 1973, where his mother, Ann Marie, still lives. His father, Jack, passed away last December. And his four siblings, brothers Kevin and John, and sisters Maureen and Pat lived in the area and remained tight over the years.

Dawn and Brian met in 1985, shortly after high school, and married seven years ago. Because she and Brian had been together for so long, every time they would attend family celebrations and other events, people would expect an announcement that they were finally engaged, said Dawn. When she and Brian did get engaged, all their close friends and family all had the same reaction: It was about time.

"Brian always used to say he wasn't going to get married until he was thirty," Dawn said, laughing. "He got married five months shy of turning thirty and always used to remind me of that."

When Brian and Dawn were on a trip to Paris as students at Nassua Community College, they took a dinner cruise on the Seine River. As they passed the Eiffel Tower, Brian reached across the table and presented her with an engagement ring.

"I was not expecting it at all. I was definitely surprised," Dawn said. "Our professors knew and I didn't have a clue. We were married six months later. Brian always did things like that. He always tried to make everything special. Not knock-your-socks-off impressive, but so that everyone would remember and be glad that they were there."

Fast forward seven years later to 2001. The McAleese family now includes four additional members -- Dawn and Brian's four children. Brianne, the oldest at five years old and the only girl, is a "girlie girl," says Dawn, and loves to dress up. Four-year-old Jack's favorite thing is dinosaurs. Liam, a very big boy for two years old, has a shock of white-blonde hair. And Aidan, the youngest, is five months old. All share their father and mother's blue eyes.

"He [Brian] was very proud of his kids; he was very protective of all of us," Dawn said. "He was definitely a family man. He called the kids every day before going into work."

The McAleese house is filled with pictures of Brianne, Jack, Liam and Aidan. "People used to point out that there were only two pictures of us and the rest were of the kids," Dawn said. "But this was our world, our children are everything to us."

A few weeks before the World Trade Center attack, Brian had just finished painting the children's rooms.

"Brianne specifically made a request to have the walls in her room painted blue on the top with clouds and pink on the bottom with teddy bears," Dawn said. "Brian did just what she asked. She loves those clouds...Jack loves dinosaurs and Brian made sure his room had dinosaurs."

Dawn said that after having Aidan, she and Brian said that they wouldn't have any more children.

"But this is my Brian," Dawn said, laughing. "He said that it was insane, but that if I wanted more [children], we would have more."

Brian, who loved boating and fishing, couldn't live any place where water was not nearby. A graduate of Baldwin Senior High School, Brian played football throughout school. Later, Brian became a golfer "B.C." -- a term Dawn and Brian used to refer to "before children."

Jack McAleese, Brian's father, had multiple sclerosis and Brian was very involved in many volunteer activities with the Multiple Sclerosis Society. When the MS Society needed a new liaison, Brian took MS patients horseback riding, bowling and fishing.

A former waiter and bartender, Brian loved fine dining and entertaining friends at his home.

"Brian enjoyed people; he was a true people person," Dawn said. "His policy was 'my house is your house.' He always liked to make people feel comfortable and at home." The McAleese house is a testament to Brian's handiwork. Dawn said he loved to work on projects and completely transformed the back room into a sunroom, where sunlight pours through large windows and skylights that he installed. The couple would entertain friends on a large deck in the backyard that he also built.

"I'm surrounded by him," Dawn said of her home.

And friends of the couple aren't forgetting Brian either.

"We're getting a lot of phone calls, cards and notes from people who knew Brian," Dawn said. "He was a hero before this. He always stood for what was right. There was no gray with him."

Dawn told a story about a former firefighter and close friend of the McAleese family who died recently of old age. The man wanted to be buried in a fire department uniform, but there were no uniforms available. Brian gave a brand-new uniform of his to the funeral home for the former firefighter to wear.

Brian also used to give food to a local homeless man Baldwinites refer to as "Eddie Collins," said Dawn. "Brian would never make a man sing for his supper," Dawn said. "No one was a nobody to him; he always made time for everybody."

For Dawn, the events of Sept. 11 are burned into her memory. That morning, she was putting a VHS tape in for the boys to watch when she saw the airplanes hit the Twin Towers.

"I was absolutely terrified," she said. "When you hear the word 'terror' that is exactly what I felt, absolute terror. They [the terrorists] accomplished exactly what they wanted to accomplish."

With the uncertainty of so many missing, Dawn had a hard time explaining the tragedy to the kids Just a week ago, she told her chilldren that Brian had died.

"Brianne is a very smart girl, she knew there was something wrong. She asked if there was going to be a funeral. Jack, he knew too," said Dawn.

While no memorial service has been scheduled, Dawn said one will most likely take place in the near future. Family, friends and firefighters have all been tremendously supportive, leaving food on their front porch and calling to pay their respects and give condolences, said Dawn.

"So many people are giving back what Brian has given to all of us," Dawn said. "They [the children] miss their daddy.

"I miss their daddy, too."