By Daniel Massey
A standing room only crowd of more than 1,000 people packed the Rochdale Village Community Center Saturday morning to celebrate the life of Tarel Coleman, a firefighter with an omnipresent smile who marched to the beat of his own drum.
A giant color portrait depicting Coleman with what family members called “that famous Tarel grin” hung at the center of a stage adorned with flowers, providing visual evidence to validate what speaker after speaker described as the way they remembered him.
Coleman, who was assigned to Squad 252 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, died along with fellow Firefighter Pat Lyons in the collapse of the north tower of the World Trade Center Sept. 11.
Members of Squad 252, along with more than 100 other firefighters from as far as New Haven, Conn., saluted Coleman’s family members as they entered the community center.
The service began with the singing of the black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Addresses from elected officials, including Borough President Claire Shulman, Councilwoman Juanita Watkins (D-Laurelton), state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) and state Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-St. Albans), followed.
Representatives of Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also spoke, noting the sacrifice made by rescue personnel like Coleman, who helped save as many as 25,000 lives on Sept. 11.
But it was the words of family and friends that helped paint a picture of a unique individual who loved family and sports and was blessed with the gift of gab.
From sports fields to firehouses to the streets of Rochdale Village, where Coleman served as a letter carrier for three years before joining the Fire Department, his mouth was famous, friends and family said.
Squad 252 member Sterling Alves said Coleman was coincidentally his mother’s letter carrier. He said she always raved about him even though she did not know his name. “He never shuts up long enough for me to ask him,” Alves recalled his mother as saying.
Coleman was famous for trash-talking on the softball diamond, where he played for local teams, and the football field, where he played for both the Fire Department and a flag football team called Take No Prisoners.
“No matter where you were you heard his voice,” said Frank Shepherd, a childhood friend.
Even though Shepherd said Coleman could run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds, he said his lifelong friend’s personality often overshadowed his athletic ability.
He told of one football game when Coleman resorted to his own tactics, ignoring the defensive strategy decided upon in the team huddle. When his plan soured, resulting in a winning touchdown for the opposition, teammates demanded an explanation.
“By the time I went back to my position I had my own huddle,” Shepherd remembered Coleman saying. “In my huddle it told me to go get the quarterback.”
Coleman, who turned 32 in August, was born at Jamaica Hospital and attended PS 140 and JHS 172 in South Jamaica before graduating from Springfield Gardens HS in 1987. He became a letter carrier in 1990. In 1993, Coleman graduated from the Fire Department’s training academy on Randalls Island and was assigned to Engine Co. 252, which is now known as Squad 252.
He immediately distinguished himself, according to Capt. Stephen Rasweiler, expressing a desire to learn and take on additional responsibilities. Rasweiler said Coleman learned to drive the fire truck and volunteered to teach probationary firefighters at the department’s Division of Training.
John Coleman, an Emergency Medical Service worker with Battalion 35 in Brooklyn, said his little brother “always made a difference,” because of the way he treated people. He spoke of the expression that always covered Tarel’s face.
“I constantly yelled at him and that’s the smile I got,” he said, pointing to the portrait that hung before the gathering.
Following a recessional to the bagpipe tune of “Amazing Grace,” firefighters presented Coleman’s family and fiancé, Kilsi Ciprian, with his No. 25 football jersey, firefighter’s helmet and a triangular American flag plaque. Four white doves were released into the air.
In addition to Ciprian, Coleman is survived by his daughter Michelle, 13; his son Tarel Jr., 3; his brothers, John, Melvin and Troy; and his parents, John Franklin Coleman and Laurel Jackson Coleman.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
