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July 23-July 29, 2021
COMMUNITY ICONS REMEMBERED
Queens senator honors 9/11 fi rst responder and longtime Mets usher in pair of street co-naming ceremonies
BY JULIA MORO
State Senator Michael Gianaris
co-named two Astoria
streets after local icons on
Saturday, July 17, and Sunday,
July 18.
Lieutenant Edith Elida
Torres, an FDNY member and
a first responder during 9/11,
was memorialized at the intersection
of 34th Avenue and
21st Street, while Luke Gasparre,
a U.S. Army veteran
and longtime beloved usher
for the New York Mets, was
honored at the intersection of
25th Avenue and 43rd Street.
“One of the things that
makes western Queens so special
is the people who dedicate
their lives to service and enrich
our neighborhoods with
their lives,” Gianaris said in
a statement. “I’m honored to
recognize two such individuals,
Lt. Edith Torres and Luke
Gasparre, whose lives of service
and love of our community
have made them role models
for generations to come.”
Torres died as a result of
a 9/11-related illness in 2017
after serving 23 years as an
FDNY paramedic. While offduty,
she rushed to the World
Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001,
where she rescued survivors
from the piles of debris. She
worked at Battalion 49 in Astoria
and was then promoted to
lieutenant in 2005. She started
her career as a volunteer EMT
at 20 years old with the Jackson
Heights-Elmhurst Volunteer
Ambulance Corps.
“Our family will always
love Edith and never forget
her sacrifice for New York,”
the Torres family said in a
statement. “As she liked to
say, ‘I respond to all emergency
calls with the same
purpose — to save and support
lives. I’m not a hero; it’s
my job.’ That is the kind of
selflessness she showed to
her community. We are just
pleased that everyone who
passes by this corner in the
future will know who our
Edith was and be able to reflect
on her life and work.”
FDNY Commissioner Daniel
Nigro said Torres was
an important member of the
FDNY whose work saved the
lives of many New Yorkers.
“Off-duty on 9/11, she responded,
and spent many
hours at the site, working to
provide medical care that day
and for countless days afterward,”
Photo courtesy of Gianaris’ office
Nigro said. “It is that
selfless work that led to the
illness that claimed her life
– and our gratitude to Edith
will not diminish even as
time passes, and our obligation
to her family will not be
forgotten.”
Gianaris also recognized
Gasparre, a member of the
U.S. Army who fought in the
Battle of the Bulge in World
War II. Gasparre also an employee
of the U.S. Postal Service
and one of the longestserving
ushers in the history
of the Mets organization. He
started in 1964 and continued
ushering until he died in February
2020. Gianaris also inducted
Gasparre into the New
York State Senate Veterans
Hall of Fame in 2016.
His daughter, Roseanna
Gasparre, said her dad taught
her to be kind and have an
open heart.
“His generosity will live
in each and every one of us,”
she said. “There is a saying
when someone you love becomes
a memory, the memory
becomes a treasure. He truly
was a treasure to each of us
in his own special way. Those
of us will always remember
him always wearing a smile,
his kind words and his many
funny jokes and sayings. He
had so many qualities that we
all learned from.”
Jen Wilson, the chief operating
officer of Army Week,
said Gasparre was a treasured
member of their organization.
“Many of the best and
brightest and most poignant
moments in our short history
involved Luke,” Wilson said.
“At every event, he needed his
own photographer because
the line to meet him and take
a picture with him was always
out the door. He was an
extraordinary man and his
mark on us and this city will
remain for the ages.”
Vol. 9, No. 30 28 total pages
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