Chris
12-24-2001, 07:18 PM
Jimmy Riches: A Way With Women
Among the firemen sifting debris at ground zero is a battalion chief, James Riches, who is searching for his son and namesake, known to his family as Little Jimmy.
Jimmy Riches, who would have turned 30 on Sept. 12, is the oldest of four brothers in a family in which uniformed service is a way of life. He served seven years in the Police Department before joining the Fire Department two years ago.
Rita Riches, Big Jimmy's wife and Little Jimmy's mother, does not bemoan her fate. Her second son, Timothy, is a police officer who expects to join the Fire Department next month. Her third, Danny, a college sophomore, placed high on the police exam, which boys like these routinely take as teenagers. Her fourth, Thomas, is a junior at Xavier High School.
Jimmy Riches was a basketball star in high school and college, a gregarious bartender on his nights off. He drove a Mercedes convertible, had a share in a beach house on the Jersey Shore. And he had a way with women. A parade of girlfriends have paid condolence calls, Mrs. Riches said, each wearing a firehouse T-shirt from Jimmy. "They all think they're the only one that has one," she said. "I'm dying the whole visit, hoping another one doesn't show up at the same time."
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On most Friday and Sunday nights for the past 2 1/2 years, James C. Riches had tended bar at Canteena in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. "Everyone loved him," said Allison Kenny, one of the owners. "People would call ahead of time to ask if Jimmy was working that night. He always had a joke ready. All the girls loved him."
Riches, 29, had been a firefighter for only about 18 months when the attack on the World Trade Center occurred. He previously had spent eight years as a police officer in Brooklyn South Narcotics, said his brother, Timmy. "He was temporarily assigned to Engine Co. No. 4," Timmy said. "They were summoned to the Trade Center, and he's been missing since."
Riches was born in Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and went to St. Francis Xavier High School in Manhattan. In 1989, Riches received a basketball scholarship to Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and joined the NYPD afterward.
At Canteena in the days after the terrorist attack, a banner with photos and messages honoring Riches hung outside the bar. "He's going to be missed," Kenny said.
Among the firemen sifting debris at ground zero is a battalion chief, James Riches, who is searching for his son and namesake, known to his family as Little Jimmy.
Jimmy Riches, who would have turned 30 on Sept. 12, is the oldest of four brothers in a family in which uniformed service is a way of life. He served seven years in the Police Department before joining the Fire Department two years ago.
Rita Riches, Big Jimmy's wife and Little Jimmy's mother, does not bemoan her fate. Her second son, Timothy, is a police officer who expects to join the Fire Department next month. Her third, Danny, a college sophomore, placed high on the police exam, which boys like these routinely take as teenagers. Her fourth, Thomas, is a junior at Xavier High School.
Jimmy Riches was a basketball star in high school and college, a gregarious bartender on his nights off. He drove a Mercedes convertible, had a share in a beach house on the Jersey Shore. And he had a way with women. A parade of girlfriends have paid condolence calls, Mrs. Riches said, each wearing a firehouse T-shirt from Jimmy. "They all think they're the only one that has one," she said. "I'm dying the whole visit, hoping another one doesn't show up at the same time."
_________________________
On most Friday and Sunday nights for the past 2 1/2 years, James C. Riches had tended bar at Canteena in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. "Everyone loved him," said Allison Kenny, one of the owners. "People would call ahead of time to ask if Jimmy was working that night. He always had a joke ready. All the girls loved him."
Riches, 29, had been a firefighter for only about 18 months when the attack on the World Trade Center occurred. He previously had spent eight years as a police officer in Brooklyn South Narcotics, said his brother, Timmy. "He was temporarily assigned to Engine Co. No. 4," Timmy said. "They were summoned to the Trade Center, and he's been missing since."
Riches was born in Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and went to St. Francis Xavier High School in Manhattan. In 1989, Riches received a basketball scholarship to Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, N.C., and joined the NYPD afterward.
At Canteena in the days after the terrorist attack, a banner with photos and messages honoring Riches hung outside the bar. "He's going to be missed," Kenny said.