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DENNIS M. CAREY: Living, and Cooking, Fully

 

Dennis M. Carey loved to cook. The family has every issue of Bon Appetit magazine going back 15 years, said his wife, Jean, "and you couldn't improvise with the ingredients. He had to use exactly what the recipe called for."

And he worked hard as a New York City firefighter. He joined the Fire Department almost two decades ago, and seven years ago began working with Hazardous Materials Company 1 in Maspeth, Queens. Mr. Carey's body was found, along with those of 15 of his colleagues, at the World Trade Center on Oct. 2.

When he was not on the job, Mr. Carey, 51, loved to travel with his wife and their two children, Nicole, 25, and Dennis Jr., 22. "We lived," Jean Carey said a day after his funeral. "A lot of people who pass on, they say about them that they lived two lives. We lived three. We've done everything with our children, traveled from Maine to Florida, went camping, went to every amusement park you can think of."

She continued: "I'm with him since I'm 17, and I'm 48 now. He was a pleaser. He spoiled me. He did for me. We had a great life. I'm so grateful to have it."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times