Families offer insights into coping, moving on

[SeaBreeze]

Michael Roberts


Lisa Roberts went to a wedding with her family a few months ago, and they didn't take any pictures, which was unusual for them.

But family pictures no longer are fun; someone is missing.

Her brother, Michael Edward Roberts, 31, a firefighter with Ladder Company 35, was killed Sept. 11.

His family — sister, Lisa; brother, Kenneth; and parents, Paulette and Thomas of Pearl River — have been going to grief counseling sessions together.

"Daily, there is a lot of tension at times, 'cause people are grieving in different ways," Lisa Roberts said.

But her brother is part of American history, and that history will be taught to her children one day. She is proud he died saving lives.

Paulette Roberts said she and her husband were on their way to South Carolina for a weeklong vacation when they heard of the attacks. They "practically did a U-turn" and came home, she said.

They worried about Kenneth, who worked at 7 World Trade Center. They weren't concerned about Michael, who was stationed uptown, too far from the scene, they thought.

Things have been particularly difficult for Michael's father, a retired New York City fire captain who talked shop with his son.

Michael's girlfriend, Teresa Ivey of New City, is very strong and is coping, his mother said.

Paulette Roberts remembers the long days and weeks after the attacks, and the hope that eventually died. And then the hope that his remains would be recovered. Her husband would go down to work alongside the searchers. He did that until the site was closed, and that hope, too, faded and died.

In November, the Roberts family met the family of the other Michael Edward Roberts, a firefighter with Company 214 in Brooklyn. They both had firefighter fathers. They shared the same age, same profession, same name and same fate.

"It's been a tough year, no doubt about it," Paulette Roberts said. "I don't know, I guess you just put one foot in front of the other and do the best you can."



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[wtfd120]

I am myself a second genoration fire fighter in Indianapolis. I was hit hard like millions of others when I watched the attacks on 9/11 on the T.V. in the firehouse. I wanted so much to be able to do something for the victoms and their families. I did not know what to do. Untill 9 months ago that is. My wife told me that we were pregnant again and when we started to discuss names, I knew what I wanted to do. So on 11/6/02 when my son was born we named him Michael Robert Jennings as a tibute. This way the memory of Michael Roberts lives on.

Tim Jennings