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Nora Coco of Greece lost her brother, Lt. Joseph Leavey, a New York City firefighter, when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
“It still feels like it just happened,” Coco said. “You would never think such a catastrophic world event would touch your personal life. It is a hard thing to wrap your head around.”
Although the attacks took an emotional toll on Coco and her family, she reminisces about her brother fondly.
They grew up together with their parents and two other siblings in Manhattan. While Coco decided to move to Rochester when she got married, her brother stayed in New York City his whole life, getting a degree from Manhattan College. She said, “New York City was his town.”
His love for the city matched his passion for firefighting — a passion he’d held since he was a little boy.
“When the fire trucks went down Broadway his head would be out the window of the car,” she said. Their mother would also take him to the firehouse sometimes when he was well-behaved.
After having a couple of jobs as an engineer in New York City, he passed the firefighting test and was called to take a firefighting job and “never looked back,” said Coco.
He took his job very seriously and eventually became a lieutenant at Ladder 15. Ladder 15 was known as the Wall Street Bulls and was one of the first teams called to the World Trade Center when the attacks hit New York.
His unit was dispatched to help in the north tower, but when the plane hit the south tower, Mr. Leavey and his colleagues headed toward it and ran up the stairs. The south tower fell when Mr. Leavey was on the 78th floor.
Coco said their family was lucky because they had only seven weeks of waiting before his body was identified. He was buried on Nov. 13, 2001, what would have been his 46th birthday.
He left behind his wife of 16 years, Carole, his step-daughter, Kerri, 26 at the time, his son Brian, 16 at the time and his daughter Caitlin, 10 at the time.
“He was a great dad and a wonderful husband who was involved with the church, the PTA and he loved to fix things,” Coco said. “No one could fill my brother’s shoes — he was unique, dynamic and died in the service of others.”
Coco applauds the efforts of the Rochester community and fire departments for supporting her in her time of need. All told, Rochester residents donated $773,500 to Mr. Leavey’s firehouse.
“Rochester was very good to me because I am a transplanted New Yorker,” she said.
The community supported her when she was in her darkest hour.
“Hatred did serious damage that day, but we felt uplifted by total strangers,” she said.
Nora Coco of Greece lost her brother, Lt. Joseph Leavey, a New York City firefighter, when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.
“It still feels like it just happened,” Coco said. “You would never think such a catastrophic world event would touch your personal life. It is a hard thing to wrap your head around.”
Although the attacks took an emotional toll on Coco and her family, she reminisces about her brother fondly.
They grew up together with their parents and two other siblings in Manhattan. While Coco decided to move to Rochester when she got married, her brother stayed in New York City his whole life, getting a degree from Manhattan College. She said, “New York City was his town.”
His love for the city matched his passion for firefighting — a passion he’d held since he was a little boy.
“When the fire trucks went down Broadway his head would be out the window of the car,” she said. Their mother would also take him to the firehouse sometimes when he was well-behaved.
After having a couple of jobs as an engineer in New York City, he passed the firefighting test and was called to take a firefighting job and “never looked back,” said Coco.
He took his job very seriously and eventually became a lieutenant at Ladder 15. Ladder 15 was known as the Wall Street Bulls and was one of the first teams called to the World Trade Center when the attacks hit New York.
His unit was dispatched to help in the north tower, but when the plane hit the south tower, Mr. Leavey and his colleagues headed toward it and ran up the stairs. The south tower fell when Mr. Leavey was on the 78th floor.
Coco said their family was lucky because they had only seven weeks of waiting before his body was identified. He was buried on Nov. 13, 2001, what would have been his 46th birthday.
He left behind his wife of 16 years, Carole, his step-daughter, Kerri, 26 at the time, his son Brian, 16 at the time and his daughter Caitlin, 10 at the time.
“He was a great dad and a wonderful husband who was involved with the church, the PTA and he loved to fix things,” Coco said. “No one could fill my brother’s shoes — he was unique, dynamic and died in the service of others.”
Coco applauds the efforts of the Rochester community and fire departments for supporting her in her time of need. All told, Rochester residents donated $773,500 to Mr. Leavey’s firehouse.
“Rochester was very good to me because I am a transplanted New Yorker,” she said.
The community supported her when she was in her darkest hour.
“Hatred did serious damage that day, but we felt uplifted by total strangers,” she said.
