When Steven Keller shook New York Firefighter
Thomas Gavitt’s hand on Saturday afternoon, he
was living a dream.
“I think it’s
an honor to speak to him,”Steven, 11, said.
Since Steven was 6, he has wanted to be a
firefighter. It seemed only natural because his
dad is a firefighter.
“I try my best to
do exactly what he does,”Keller said of his role
model. His dad isn’t his only role model. All
firefighters are.
“I think it’s
always been an honor to save peoples
lives,”Keller said. When he shook Gavitt’s
hand, Keller told him that his teacher was never
going to believe that he did it.
“My teacher would
basically faint if I told her that I had shaken
the New York firefighter’s hand,”he added.
Steven wasn’t the
only person gathered at the Salisbury Fire Station
on East Innes Street that wanted to shake the New
York firefighter’s hand.
Everyone wanted to.
And, just about everyone got the opportunity
Saturday.
Gavitt said
Salisbury is a wonderful town with wonderful
people.
“I’m really
overwhelmed,”he said in his thick Brooklyn
accent. “I’m not used to this, but it’s been
an honor to be here.
“It’s great to
see the country pull together the way they
have...We finally became one in New York. It’s
just a way of life down here,” Gavitt added.
On Saturday
morning, they got to experience a little bit of
Salisbury and the South. The Gavitt’s had never
been to North Carolina.
After a breakfast
of grits and livermush, delicacies not available
in New York, they got to shop in some of the
downtown shops with gift certificates provided by
some of the local merchants. Then they got to
sample hot dogs from Hap’s Grill, another
Salisbury original.
Even though they
were forewarned that everywhere they went, their
aroma would let everyone they’d been to Hap’s,
they didn’t believe it — until they visited
Salisbury Square Antiques.
“Soon as we
walked in, they said, ‘You’ve been to
Hap’s,’ “ said Kathryn Gavitt, Thomas’
wife.
The visitors surely
had plenty to eat during the day.
At a noon luncheon,
Gavitt and Kathryn ate a lunch of Cheerwine and
barbeque from Richard’s.
Kathryn Gavitt said
she enjoyed the barbeque and Cheerwine. They
can’t get that in New York either.
Thomas Gavitt
talked about the destruction of the World Trade
Center’s and the aftermath.
“It’s something
I don’t want to see again and hope Inever
do,”Gavitt said.
“We lost the best
that we had...That made it a little difficult,”
he added. Gavitt said if there is another
terrorist attack, he believes the United States
would be better prepared.
Since it rained,
the 2 p.m. ceremony to break ground and plant two
trees at the Firemen’s Memorial in Chestnut Hill
Cemetery, was moved indoors. But the message was
still the same.
“We’re here
today to honor all of those that lost their
lives,”said Mayor Susan Kluttz during her
opening remarks. “Even though (terrorist) killed
many, many more people than they intended, they
didn’t destroy us.
“As average
citizens, we are shielded from death and grief
that (firefighters) see everyday,” she added.
She said that the
completion date for the rededicated Firemen’s
Memorial will be Sept. 11, one year after the
terrorist attacks.
“We are going to
have a special place (there) for New York
Firefighters and Firefighter Gavitt,” she added.
During the
ceremony, Kluttz presented Thomas and Kathryn
Gavitt with a key to the city.
“I don’t know
how to thank you people,”Gavitt said , tears
clouding his voice. “I can’t find the words.
“I’m really
honored to be in Salisbury,” he added, his voice
breaking.
Mayor Susan Kluttz
said she was thankful that Salisbury had gotten a
firefighter like Gavitt. She added that Salisbury
is probably the smallest town in the Council of
Mayors, the group that sponsored the 200 New York
Firefighters this weekend all over the United
States. But that is only in numbers.
She said that in
love and community, Salisbury outshines the rest.
“We have
wonderful people in this community,”she said.
The Gavitts agreed.
When asked what the
first thing he was going to tell everyone about
when he got back, Thomas Gavitt’s answer was
short and fast: “The people.”
“Southern
hospitality is truly something...(It) isn’t just
a figure of speech and like I said, it is a way of
life down here.”
“It’s an
incredible town with many incredible
people,”said Kathryn Gavitt. “You have no idea
how much we appreciate this.”
Thomas Gavitt said
that he has enjoyed his trip to Salisbury.
As for the aspiring
young firefighter, Steven Keller, meeting a New
York firefighter “was an honor.”
Gavitt felt the
same way about Salisbury.
Contact Joanie
Morris at 704-797-4264 or jmorris@salisburypost.com
.
