By DONNA SILBERBERG

Posted: November 29, 2001

On September 11, three members of District Council 37 Locals were lost in the collapse of the World Trade Center. The Rev. Mychal F. Judge ("Father Mike") was a New York City Fire Department chaplain and a member of Local 299. Paramedics Ricardo Quinn, a 9 year EMT veteran, and Carlos Lillo, a 16 year veteran, both members of Local 2507, were listed as missing when PEP went to press. “Our hearts go out to the families and coworkers of these union members who lost their lives doing their jobs for the people of New York City,” said DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders.

Another 65 Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians were injured, as were members of EMS Lieutenants and Captains Local 3621. Three Local 375 members from the Medical Examiner’s Office were hurt at ground zero.


Chaplain, Local 299, The Rev. Mychal Judge
While he administered last rites to a dying firefighter – with his hat removed as he offered prayer – Father Mychal Judge, 68, was killed by toppling rubble from the collapsing World Trade Center. Firefighters carried his body to St. Peters Church on Barclay Street and then to a firehouse, 50 years to the day after the priest had entered the Franciscan seminary.

"Father Mike and I entered together into the seminary on September 11, 1951," said Father Cassian A. Miles, Director of Communications for the Holy Name Province of the Franciscan Friars.

In 1992 the Archdiocese of New York appointed Rev. Judge chaplain of the Fire Department for Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. “As the Brooklyn-born son of Irish immigrants, he grew up wanting to be a Franciscan and a fireman. Being a Fire Dept. chaplain, he felt he had the best of both worlds,” said Fr. Miles.

A legendary figure in the Fire Department, Father Mike never hesitated to head out to three-alarm fires with his beloved firefighters. He also ministered to AIDS patients, counseled many victims of the TWA Flight 800 crash, and went on a peace mission to Northern Ireland with his friend Steven McDonald, the New York police officer who was shot and paralyzed in 1986.

Father Mike’s funeral Sept. 15 was attended by over 3,000 and a Fire Department unit of 24 bagpipes. In her eulogy, Senator Hillary Clinton said, "What a bearer of light. He lit up the White House as he lit up every place he found himself."

"God was taking hundred of Firefighters up to heaven, and he needed someone there to help him," said Firefighter Brian Thomas. "That’s the only way you can rationalize what happened to Father Mike."

“He reached out to everyone,” said Fr. Cassian. “He knew we are not here just for survival. We’re here to make this a better world. And he did."


Paramedic, Local 2507, Carlos Lillo
On September 11, at the time of the attack, Carlos Lillo, 37, was on duty in Astoria as a Fire Department Paramedic. He was immediately mobilized to One World Trade Center where his wife, Cecilia, worked for the Port Authority on the 64th floor. He tried to reach her on his cell phone. He couldn’t. He went into the building to help others and to find her.

She later told Newsday, "I was trying to tell him that I got out and not to worry about me. He was my hero, because I was in there and he was trying to save me."

They had married last year in Jamaica and lived in North Babylon.

Local 2507 President Patrick Bahnken had a personal connection with Mr. Lillo. "Before I became President, he was my partner," he said. "Both Carlos and Ricardo Quinn where among the finest medics Ive ever had the pleasure to work with. These two men lived every day to the fullest. I consider my life much richer for having had Carlos as a partner and for having known Ricardo."


Paramedic, Local 2507, Ricardo Quinn and family
He was not ordered to go. But when the call came in to Fire Department Headquarters in Brooklyn, paramedic Ricardo Quinn, 40, rushed to save others at the Twin Towers.

"I knew him when he first came on the job almost 10 years ago," said Ralph Carmine, EMT and Grievance Coordinator for Local 2507. "He liked to joke around. He always wanted people to feel better. He went because he wanted to help anyone who was injured."

"I knew he was there, that’s Ricardo," his wife Ginny Quinn told Newsday. "Iím so proud of him, that he went there to help people. He just didnít make it out." Mr. Quinn was in the lobby of the south tower when it collapsed.

Mr. Quinn and his wife met at Jones Beach. Each had a son from a prior marriage. They married and nine years ago had a son Kevin.

In addition to his wife, he leaves behind three children, stepson Nick, 20, and sons Adam, 18, and Kevin, 9.

"I want the families of both Ricardo Quinn and Carlos Lillo to know they are now part of our family and we will be there for them always, " said Mr. Bahnken. "To the wives I would say, remember your husbands as the heroes that they are. To Ricardo’s children, know that your father was a brave and outstanding man who gave his life for others.

"We should never forget them–and we never will."