Hundreds of people packed the pews at Saints Philip and James Roman Catholic Church in St. James Friday morning for the funeral of FDNY Safety Battalion 1 Chief Lawrence T. Stack, who died on 9/11.
Stack’s funeral was the first 9/11-related fire department funeral held in years, and it comes just a few months before the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Friends, family and fire officials in their formal best took part in Stack’s final farewell. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was among those delivering remarks.
Stack, of Lake Ronkonkoma, was working at his office in Brooklyn, where he investigated and wrote reports on work-related accidents for the FDNY, when planes struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
He grabbed his gear and headed to the scene to help, but never returned. Witnesses last saw him helping an injured businessman before the second tower collapsed.
His body was never recovered, meaning his family could not have a formal Catholic funeral. That is, until his widow, Theresa Stack, recalled a blood donation her husband had made several years before his death.
A local boy had been suffering from cancer and needed a bone-marrow transplant. The couple was moved to donate blood and find out if they could offer their marrow, she told reporters on June 9. Lawrence Stack wasn’t a match, but two vials of his blood had been placed in storage at the New York Blood Bank.
Theresa Stack and her two sons, FDNY Lt. Michael Stack, 46 and Firefighter Brian Stack, 44, began looking for the vials about a year ago and the bank found success this year, fire officials said.
The funeral was scheduled to coincide with what would be Theresa and Lawrence Stack’s 49th wedding anniversary.
“All of these years sitting and waiting patiently to bury Larry and always hitting a brick wall,” Theresa Stack said June 9. “It’s almost like a miracle ... many, many years later that we would have this blood.”
After the ceremony, the family planned to bury Stack at the Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton with a military burial to recognize his service in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
Hundreds of people packed the pews at Saints Philip and James Roman Catholic Church in St. James Friday morning for the funeral of FDNY Safety Battalion 1 Chief Lawrence T. Stack, who died on 9/11.
Stack’s funeral was the first 9/11-related fire department funeral held in years, and it comes just a few months before the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Friends, family and fire officials in their formal best took part in Stack’s final farewell. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was among those delivering remarks.
Stack, of Lake Ronkonkoma, was working at his office in Brooklyn, where he investigated and wrote reports on work-related accidents for the FDNY, when planes struck the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
He grabbed his gear and headed to the scene to help, but never returned. Witnesses last saw him helping an injured businessman before the second tower collapsed.
His body was never recovered, meaning his family could not have a formal Catholic funeral. That is, until his widow, Theresa Stack, recalled a blood donation her husband had made several years before his death.
A local boy had been suffering from cancer and needed a bone-marrow transplant. The couple was moved to donate blood and find out if they could offer their marrow, she told reporters on June 9. Lawrence Stack wasn’t a match, but two vials of his blood had been placed in storage at the New York Blood Bank.
Theresa Stack and her two sons, FDNY Lt. Michael Stack, 46 and Firefighter Brian Stack, 44, began looking for the vials about a year ago and the bank found success this year, fire officials said.
The funeral was scheduled to coincide with what would be Theresa and Lawrence Stack’s 49th wedding anniversary.
“All of these years sitting and waiting patiently to bury Larry and always hitting a brick wall,” Theresa Stack said June 9. “It’s almost like a miracle ... many, many years later that we would have this blood.”
After the ceremony, the family planned to bury Stack at the Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton with a military burial to recognize his service in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
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