Bob Carberry (BC) and John Cullen (JC)
BC: Physically he was a big man. Large man, six-foot, blond hair, blue eye but he was tough on the outside — big, big soft guy on the inside.
JC: I know, he loved dogs, he loved cartoons, he loved his naps.
BC: There are certain people we enjoy seeing when we show up at work and he was definitely one of them. We would walk in the firehouse in the morning, and one of his big traditions were to have those pretzel rolls from Glendale
JC: Glendale.
BC: He was from Glendale, Queens and he got me into doing triathlons. And him and I were fat balding fireman and I have a picture in my basement of him and I with our bellies sticking out of a wet suit with these bathing caps on ready to do a triathlon. I look at that and I just go hysterical. I always do that specific triathlon in memory of him.
JC: You know when you get to the fire department they take a photo of you and the reality is that’s the picture they’re going to use if you die and so it’s called the death picture. It’s an official photograph and they know that’s the photo they’re going to use if you pass. So, that picture was a sad picture. You know when you look in his eyes you can see he had some tough days.
BC: I think that had a lot to do with his upbringing. He was pretty much an orphan his whole life. So I guess he developed a shell around himself but if you got to know him you saw the softer side of him.
JC: And the fire department gave him a family. We have these terms where we call each other ‘brother’ and every time he came to work he had like twelve brothers or sisters.
BC: He was a perfect person to be a firefighter and I think Stevie would like to be remembered as a caring guy.
JC: He was strong, strong man, he had a generous spirit. I’m really honored to know him and to call him a friend.
