Firefighters and police officers from several Texas departments have worked to give a retired FDNY firefighter who recently died of cancer a full uniformed funeral.
Capt. Peter Massiello—a 33-year veteran with the FDNY who served at Staten Island's Station 84 and retired shortly before 9/11—died of cancer in Trophy Club on Feb. 15, KDFW-TV reports. He and his wife had moved to the north Texas city two years ago to be near his son.
"Our son was down here with our grandchildren," Diane Massiello told KDFW. "His one regret he had about leaving New York. He loved Texas once we got here. Everyone was just fabulous and kind.
"A week before he died, he was very ill for a long time. And he said his one regret was that there would be no one from the fire department at his funeral," she added.
When Trophy Club Fire Chief J. Taylor found out about Massiello's dying concern, he began mobilzing his fellow firefighters to make sure the former FDNY member received a proper funeral.
"Several of my firefighters have gotten to know him, bumped into him around town, visited with him about fire service stuff, talked with him about FDNY. So they knew who he was," Taylor told KDFW.
Taylor contacted the FDNY to help organize the funeral. He then reached out to fire departments in Fort Worth, Irving, Grapevine and other communities, according to Diane Massiello.
"He’s our Texas brother, now. We will make this happen," Taylor told KDFW.
Massiello's funeral is scheduled to be held Wednesday in Grapevine. FDNY members from New York City, as well as retired members living in Texas and Massiello's firefighter nephew, are expected to attend the funeral.
"The fire chiefs and departments around the metroplex have just stopped what they’re doing to help," Taylor told KDFW. "It makes you very proud to be a Texas firefighter."
