08/14/2025
There were two driving forces in the life of Gary Geidel -- his love for his wife and family and his dedication to the New York City Fire Department.
In November of 1989, he celebrated both when he posed for wedding pictures with his new bride, the former Mathilda Welsh, in front of Rescue Co. 5's rig in Concord, where he worked at the time.
Two weeks shy of his 20-year mark as a firefighter, the 44-year-old lifelong Tottenville resident looked forward to retiring and spending more time with his family at a new home in Greenville, N.Y.
In an effort to build up his overtime to provide for a more comfortable retirement, Mr. Geidel put in for as many hours as could at Rescue Co. 1 in Midtown Manhattan, including the day tour on Sept. 11.
"You're going to get mad, but I put in for overtime again," said Mrs. Geidel remembering her husband's words on the day before the attack.
The next morning the couple woke up about 5 a.m. Lying in bed Mr. Geidel drew his wife close to him and told her not to be upset because he would only be working a few more tours.
"Don't worry, you and me are going to be together forever," he told her in his usual gentle and reassuring way.
As the couple hugged and kissed good-bye on the porch, Mr. Geidel headed to the front gate and, uncharacteristically went back to hug and kiss his wife again. At the time, Mrs. Geidel dismissed his behavior as just being very emotional about the sale of their Tottenville home, which he renovated from a small bungalow to an impressive two-story structure.
Concerned for her husband, Mrs. Geidel called the firehouse at about the same time the first of two hijacked planes rammed into the World Trade Center. Told that he hadn't arrived yet, she hung up. Within minutes, Mrs. Geidel frantically called back the firehouse, but her calls went unanswered because the 10 other firemen from the night and day shifts were already heading downtown.
Sensing that he probably hadn't reached the firehouse in time to board the truck, she continued to call on the outside line. In a twist of fate, Mr. Geidel had actually missed the truck and picked up another phone call on the department line before leaving, missing his wife's call. A cell phone that Mr. Geidel always carried had recently run out of phone minutes, preventing his wife from reaching him.
Determined to be with the same men with whom he responded to the 1993 bombing of the Twin Towers and had spent the last 11 years, Mr. Geidel made his way to the escalating chaos in hopes of rejoining his rescue company.
Mr. Geidel, as well as 10 other firefighters from his company, perished in the attacks.
"My husband and I were really one soul, we were that close," said Mrs. Geidel, who spent the ensuing days wavering between hope and despair.
"I really didn't think my husband wasn't going to come home, I just thought he was stuck there helping," said Mrs. Geidel.
The couple had planned to celebrate their 13th anniversary by having each other's name tattooed on their arms. Instead, Mrs. Geidel had a shamrock encircled with the words "Gary and Tillie" tattooed on her right shoulder as silent testimony to their love.
The Geidels met 15 years ago, when Mrs. Geidel moved into the Tottenville community from her native Brooklyn. From the start, friends of both said they would be a perfect match. Although shy, Mr. Geidel gradually worked up the courage to offer her a ride one evening when he spotted her walking in the rain.
Within weeks Mr. Geidel, who always claimed that he was not good with words, would begin writing her romantic letters professing his love and the life they would share.
On their wedding day he wrote: "To my Teeta, I can't wait until tomorrow because it's another day to spend with you."
"Since the day we met we never left each other," said Mrs. Geidel.
On their first date the couple went on a nature walk in the woods surrounding the Conference House in Tottenville. That walk would become a tradition for the couple, that eventually grew to include their 7-year-old daughter Mathilda Charlotte and their two dogs.
An avid outdoorsman and birdwatcher, Mr. Geidel loved to point out the different species of birds to his young daughter as they strolled through the woods and along the South Shore beachfront.
When weather permitted the family would sit in rocking chairs on the front porch gazing at stars through a telescope.
"We were both blessed to have a love like that, many people go through life and never experience that," Mrs. Geidel added.
Mr. Geidel along, with his brothers, Ralph and Michael, became firefighters following in the footsteps of their retired Fire Lieutenant father, Paul Geidel of Rescue Co. 1. Both Mr. Geidel and Michael continued the family lineage at the elder man's rescue company -- the first rescue company established in the United States in 1915.
Upon graduating from Tottenville High School, Mr. Geidel joined the Marines. He then worked as a welder for Perth Amboy Drydock, a New Jersey shipyard while waiting to be called by the Fire Department.
After being appointed in 1981 he worked at Ladder Co. 11 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan for seven years before joining Rescue Co. 5 in Concord. He was with Rescue Co. 1 since 1990.
For the last 20 years, Mr. Geidel was a member of the Tottenville Lizards, a neighborhood softball and football team that used the field at Totten Intermediate School.
As a young man he earned the rank of Eagle Scout with Boy Scout Troop 21.
In his leisure time Mr. Geidel enjoyed doing carpentry and making craft projects such as a marionette for his daughter, toy boxes for his nephews, Michael and James Welsh, and a Welsh love spoon that he whittled from a block of wood as a present to his wife.
Borrowing on skills learned from fixing parachutes in the Marines, Mr. Geidel was able to finish sewing a traditional Gaelic dress that was unsuccessfully attempted by his wife as a St. Patrick's Day outfit for their daughter.
Mr. Geidel was a parishioner of Bethel United Methodist Church, Tottenville.
In addition to his wife, Mathilda, his daughter, Mathilda Charlotte, his father, Paul, and brothers Michael and Ralph; surviving are his mother Patricia Geidel; his sister, Christine Norris and his stepmother, Barbara Geidel.
(New York City Fire Department Memorial)
