An overflow funeral service for the 10-year veteran New York firefighter was punctuated by those conflicting emotions during the heartfelt eulogies for Bellew on a day cold enough to freeze tears.
His widow, Eileen, reduced many in the crowd to tears with her remembrance of the man she met on the New Jersey shore more than a decade ago. And his battalion chief encouraged everyone inside St. Margaret of Antioch Church to join in a standing ovation for Bellew, who plunged to his death Sunday from the fourth floor of burning Bronx building.
It was the first of three funerals in three days for the Fire Department, an extended period of mourning reminiscent of the scores of firefighter funerals that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack that killed 343 FDNY members.
Eileen Bellew left many mourners weeping while recalling how her husband spent his life "dreaming of ways to make his family happier." Her husband, she said, was watching over their four children from heaven.
Battalion Chief John Sullivan referred to the Bellew brood as well: Briella, 6, Jack, 3, Katreanna, 2, and 5-month-old Kieran John, who sat with their mom and grandparents. Sullivan, saying Mrs. Bellew feared her children would have no memories of their father, encouraged the crowd to stand and applaud "so the kids can see and remember."
They did.
Bellew, 37, was one of six firefighters trapped while searching for people inside the building in the Morris Heights section. All six men were forced to leap from the fourth floor, a fatal jump for Bellew and Lt. Curtis Meyran.
Meyran, 46, will be remembered Saturday at a funeral on Long Island. The funeral for Richard Sclafani, 37, will be Friday at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on Staten Island. He died on the same day at a fire in Brooklyn.
Bellew's American flag-draped casket arrived at the church atop a firetruck, with an honor guard struggling to hold their flags aloft in the whipping winds. The casket was brought out of the church to the sadly familiar FDNY bagpipers' version of "Amazing Grace."
In addition to firefighters from as far off as Milwaukee, the funeral was attended by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Cardinal Edward Egan. Some in the crowd had known Bellew during his decade on the job.
"John and I crawled down many hallways together," recalled Lt. Craig Crichlow, who worked alongside Bellew for nine years. "But strangely enough, it was always peaceful with him. No apprehension."
The pair had studied together for the promotion exam. On Tuesday, Bellow was posthumously promoted to the rank of fire lieutenant.
© 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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