Michael F. Lynch: 'An Unbelievable
Dad'
On
his days off, Lt. Michael F. Lynch, a firefighter at
Ladder Company 4 in Manhattan, loved to play with toy
dinosaurs with his elder son, Michael, 3. They would line
them up by type and take them for "far walks" -- a game
in which the dinosaurs foraged for food and water.
"He was an unbelievable dad," said his wife, Denise.
She said he would come home from a 24-hour shift and see
their other son, John Ryan, known as Jack, and say how
"shocked he was at how much Jack had grown." Jack is 1
year old today.
His nieces and nephews called Lieutenant Lynch, 33,
who was 6 feet 5 inches and 230 pounds, Big Mike. The
firefighters in Ladder 4 called him Prancer, a nickname
given him the night he thought he heard a bell and
started jumping around the firehouse looking for it. Mrs.
Lynch called him "drop-dead gorgeous."
Lieutenant Lynch was last seen on Sept. 11 helping
people trapped in an elevator in the lobby of 2 World
Trade Center. Mrs. Lynch hopes to meet someone from that
elevator because she is certain that its occupants
survived. She said, "Those people were in good hands with
my husband."
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