Matthew Diaz: Work and
Family
Matthew
Diaz was a man with a conflict on his hands.
A carpenter specializing in laying floor tile and
carpets, he had a friendly wager that he could put in
more hours than his foreman during 2001. But his desire
to get an early start on each workday was impeded by his
late-night routine: he liked to stay up until midnight or
later, playing video games with his two sons.
"He couldn't stop talking about his kids," said
William Gonzalez, Mr. Diaz's friend and foreman at New
York City District Council of Carpenters Local 2287. On
Sept. 11, Mr. Diaz, 33, was laying tile in the elevators
of the Cantor Fitzgerald offices.
Long before, he and his sons, Michael 7, and
Christopher, 4, had a lot to deal with. His wife, Karen
Diaz, received a diagnosis of late-stage breast cancer a
year earlier. Mr. Diaz had been caring for her, and
preparing their sons for carrying on without one of their
parents, but not without him.
The older son still goes to the front door some days,
hoping his father will come home -- to build more Star
Wars figurines, skateboard or ride bikes with him, go to
his soccer practice, listen to the stereo. "He was just a
family man," said Florence Kneff, his mother-in-law. "He
worked, and he came home."
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