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EDDIE D'ATRI: Just a Working Man

 

Lynda Mari was painting her porch last fall when she was approached by a construction worker with an extension cord.

"Hello, I'm Eddie," he said. "You mind if I borrow your power?"

Eddie D'Atri was a handsome, muscular fellow. "I told him, `You can borrow anything you want," Ms. Mari said the other day.

She asked him if he was a fireman. "I just felt it," she said. "Something just told me." He told her no, he was just a working man, but she didn't believe it. Her brother is a fireman, and something deep inside her made her fearful of falling in love with a guy like that.

But she did. They were engaged June 30.

Mr. D'Atri was 38. He studied nursing and was a lieutenant at Squad 1 in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He was crowned Mr. Staten Island in 1987.

Sadly, steel is stronger than muscle, and Mr. D'Atri leaves behind a broken heart.

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times