July 10--Hundreds of firefighters will pay their respects this week to a former Beach Park resident who was among 19 firefighters who died while battling an Arizona wildfire late last month, officials said.
Anthony "Tony" Rose, 23, attended his freshman and sophomore year at Zion-Benton High School in the northern Chicago suburbs before moving to Arizona. He died alongside his fellow firefighters on June 30.
This evening, his body, which has been cremated, will be returned home in a chartered plane scheduled to land at Waukegan National Airport. From there, his remains will be transported by limousine to a Zion funeral home, said Beach Park Fire Department Chief Paul Tierney.
Rose spent his grade school years in Wadsworth, then moved with his parents and two younger siblings to Beach Park when he was in eighth grade, said his mother, Athena Sperry of Beach Park.
"He was always a kid who loved the adrenaline," Sperry said. "He had the most beautiful smile that could light up the room."
Growing up, Rose enjoyed riding a dirt bike and skateboarding and was a bit of a "wild child," his mother said. Before he finished his sophomore year, she sent him to live with her brother and a family friend in small town north of Phoenix, where he thrived and matured, she said.
"If he tried to run away, he couldn't get very far," she said with a laugh.
Following in the footsteps of his uncle, Rose started work at 17 as a dispatcher for the Crown King Fire Department. At 18, he was allowed to join the firefighters crew, she said. Within a few years, he began working for an elite group called the Granite Mountain Hotshots.
"Anthony was a highly motivated, reliable, and hard working person, always ready and willing to help someone out when needed," according to a tribute on the Crown King Fire Department's website.
He was looking forward to becoming a father, when his fiancee, Tiffany, became pregnant, Sperry said. She is due to have a girl in October, she said.
Donations are being accepted for the mother and expected child at Zion Bible Church, 2633 Emmaus Avenue, Zion, IL 60099.
"He loved what he was doing," Athena Sperry said. "He knew the risks that were involved. That was his destiny to do it, really."
Besides his mother, other survivors include his father, Michael Sperry; a sister, Rhonda "Ronnie," 15; and brother, Alexander, 18.
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