By BRAD HUNTER
Courtesy of The New York Post
The grief-stricken widow of a hero firefighter killed Sept. 11 has miraculously discovered she still may be able to give her husband a legacy he always wanted: a son.
Gary Geidel, 44, died two weeks before his scheduled retirement, while working overtime.
Now, he has reached from beyond the grave to bring his family hope of a new life.
His wife, Tillie, shaking off months of despair, remembered that Geidel had left sperm samples at two Brooklyn in vitro fertilization clinics in the mid '90s.
"At first I thought they probably destroyed all the samples, but I desperately wanted to grab onto something of Gary," the Staten Island woman told The Post yesterday.
"I was down and depressed about everything."
A daughter, also named Tillie, had been born through the in vitro process in 1994. But a second attempt at a child had failed.
Hoping against hope, she decided to call the two clinics.
The first had destroyed the sample.
Mustering her courage, she made her second call.
"I phoned the clinic and a nurse called back and told me, ‘I have some great news. We still have Gary's sample and there's enough to try for a baby,' " Tillie said, adding she broke down in tears.
Now, in honor of Gary, whose body still hasn't been found, the gutsy widow hopes to give her heroic hubby of 15 years the son he always wanted.
"When I got the news, I was shocked and shaking. I couldn't believe it," she said. "Words can't describe how I felt.
"And I'm going to name the baby Gary Miracle Geidel because that's what he'll be, a miracle.
"I said a silent prayer of thanks to God and then I told Gary how very much I love him - how much I will always love him."
The couple had planned on a bigger family but as time passed, they decided to wait until Gary retired, said Tillie, 36, adding she does not intend to marry again.
"I might have more than one baby [from the sperm sample], but whatever happens, I know that I will definitely not remarry. It may sound strange because I'm only 36, but it's something I feel very strongly about.
"We were very, very close."
A symbol of that love rests on her right shoulder - a tattoo of a shamrock encircled by the words "Gary and Tillie."
Valentine's Day cards, love letters and photos still cover the walls of her home.
She plans to wait until the fall to have the artificial insemination procedure done.
Tillie and her 7-year-old daughter will be living in a recently purchased 150-year-old upstate farmhouse by then, away from the stress and heartache the last year has delivered.
The days since the terror attacks have been a struggle where happiness has been scarce and hope utterly missing.
Only little Tillie has given her the strength to carry on.
"She's really looking forward to having a baby brother," Tillie said. "She talks about it all the time."
Gary loved his job, despite its dangers, but his thoughts were never far from his wife and child.
On Gary's last day on earth, Tillie complained about all the overtime he'd been putting in, but her husband kissed her and said, "Don't worry, we're going to be together forever."
Ominously, Tillie responded, "You better come home tonight."
The couple shared a love of walking on the beach and in the woods.
And they shared dreams.
"I'm a pretty strong person or else I wouldn't be here, but it just seems to be getting worse as time goes on," she said. "This is the shred of hope I needed."
