GREGG FROEHNER: Modest Man of
Action
Since
he was a boy, Gregg Froehner yearned for a job where he
could serve others. When he was a teenager, he became an
Eagle Scout and a volunteer firefighter. After college,
he became a police officer with the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey.
Mr. Froehner, 46, was assigned to the PATH system in
Jersey City, and was a unit leader for the Emergency
Services Unit. Yet he never bragged about the rescues he
was involved in.
Many people who knew him in Chester, N.J., where he
lived with his wife, Mary, and four children, did not
even know what he did for a living. His wife usually only
found out about his daring episodes when she overheard
his nightly conversations with his boss, whom they
sometimes referred to as his "other wife."
Mrs. Froehner used to work as a nurse in a nursing
home, and one of her patients was Mr. Froehner's
grandfather. One day, he told her, "You look like
somebody my grandson should meet."
This information was passed on to Mr. Froehner's
father, who urged Mr. Froehner to go visit his
grandfather soon at the nursing home. Mary and Mr.
Froehner clicked immediately.
When he was home, Mr. Froehner was a total family man,
his wife said. "He loved his children more than anything
in the world," she said in her eulogy. "This could be
seen in the way he always called Katie his little smiley
face, by coaching Matt's team in Little League, by
laughing to himself all the way across the room at one of
Heather's jokes and by teasing Meghan that she couldn't
date until she was 25."
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