Father of five sons, husband to Luba Baktis (nee Dedula), grandfather to ten grandchildren, retired N.Y.C. Firefighter, Truck #111, Engine #214, Brooklyn, New York 14 years of service. Served in U.S. Marine Corps. and U.S. Army WWII. Second photo shows pop receiving an Metal "William H. Todd" from Mayor Wagner for saving the life of 3 children in an inferno on December 30, 1961. He was the last of his brothers to reach Heaven's Gate. His brothers Frank Baktis Peter P. Baktis and Simon J. Baktis, and daughter in law, Linda A. Baktis, also memoralized on FAG.
*********************************************
WHAT IS A FIREMAN?
He's the guy next door, a man's man with the memory of a little boy. He has never gotten over the excitement of engines and sirens and smoke and danger.
He's a guy like you and me with worries and unfulfilled dreams.
Yet he stands taller than most of us.
HE IS A FIREMAN.
He puts it all on the line when the bell rings.
A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of all men. He's a man who saves lives because he has seen too much death.
He's a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control. He's responsive to a child's laughter because his arms have held too many small bodies that will never laugh again.
He's a man who appreciates the simple pleausres of life...hot coffee held in numb, unbending fingers - a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling - the camarderie of brave men - the deving peace and selfless seervice of a job well done in the name of all men.
He doesn't wear buttons or wave flags or shout obsecenities. When he marches, it is to honor a fallen comrade.
He doesn't preach the brotherhood of men, He lives it!
*******************************************
Death is Nothing at All......By, Henry Scott Holland:
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way, which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me.
Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you. For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near. Just around the corner.
All is well.
*************************************************
WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN
They say that life is fleeting
I know that this is true
I left this world so quickly
With no goodbye to you.
I know how much you miss me
Your tears fall ever light
The pillow where you lay your head
Is wet with them at night.
I know your heart is hurting
The words we left, unsaid
I love you's left unspoken
Are spinning in your head.
The strength that I have carried
That served to make you whole
Remains to make you stronger
Within your grieving soul.
For you see, while you were weeping
On the day I passed away
At the gravesite near the flowers
Where my loved ones knelt to pray.
An angel came to see me
She took me by the hand
She led me to a kingdom
In a very distant land.
As I look down from the heaven
And see you standing there
Your heart so ever burdened
With more weight than it can bear.
I long to bring you comfort
I long to give you peace
I long to hold you closely
Cause all your tears to cease.
The joy I've found in heaven
Goes far beyond compare
The love that's so elusive
Can be found here everywhere.
The light is softly shining
There's no storm clouds here or rain
There's no teardrops found in heaven
There's no suffering, there's no pain.
You needn't be so troubled
Stay close to God and pray
That someday we'll be together
One bright and glorious day.
So my love, you shouldn't question
My dear you need not cry
I've gone to be with Jesus
I really didn't die.
*****************************************************
A VERY SPECIAL NOTE FOR M-BLANCO SHORE
Thank you so, so much M-Blanco Shore
for sponsoring my father Edward's FAG
memorial site. That was so very kind
of you. May you be blessed always for
your kindness.
*********************************************
WHAT IS A FIREMAN?
He's the guy next door, a man's man with the memory of a little boy. He has never gotten over the excitement of engines and sirens and smoke and danger.
He's a guy like you and me with worries and unfulfilled dreams.
Yet he stands taller than most of us.
HE IS A FIREMAN.
He puts it all on the line when the bell rings.
A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of all men. He's a man who saves lives because he has seen too much death.
He's a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control. He's responsive to a child's laughter because his arms have held too many small bodies that will never laugh again.
He's a man who appreciates the simple pleausres of life...hot coffee held in numb, unbending fingers - a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling - the camarderie of brave men - the deving peace and selfless seervice of a job well done in the name of all men.
He doesn't wear buttons or wave flags or shout obsecenities. When he marches, it is to honor a fallen comrade.
He doesn't preach the brotherhood of men, He lives it!
*******************************************
Death is Nothing at All......By, Henry Scott Holland:
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way, which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me.
Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you. For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near. Just around the corner.
All is well.
*************************************************
WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN
They say that life is fleeting
I know that this is true
I left this world so quickly
With no goodbye to you.
I know how much you miss me
Your tears fall ever light
The pillow where you lay your head
Is wet with them at night.
I know your heart is hurting
The words we left, unsaid
I love you's left unspoken
Are spinning in your head.
The strength that I have carried
That served to make you whole
Remains to make you stronger
Within your grieving soul.
For you see, while you were weeping
On the day I passed away
At the gravesite near the flowers
Where my loved ones knelt to pray.
An angel came to see me
She took me by the hand
She led me to a kingdom
In a very distant land.
As I look down from the heaven
And see you standing there
Your heart so ever burdened
With more weight than it can bear.
I long to bring you comfort
I long to give you peace
I long to hold you closely
Cause all your tears to cease.
The joy I've found in heaven
Goes far beyond compare
The love that's so elusive
Can be found here everywhere.
The light is softly shining
There's no storm clouds here or rain
There's no teardrops found in heaven
There's no suffering, there's no pain.
You needn't be so troubled
Stay close to God and pray
That someday we'll be together
One bright and glorious day.
So my love, you shouldn't question
My dear you need not cry
I've gone to be with Jesus
I really didn't die.
*****************************************************
A VERY SPECIAL NOTE FOR M-BLANCO SHORE
Thank you so, so much M-Blanco Shore
for sponsoring my father Edward's FAG
memorial site. That was so very kind
of you. May you be blessed always for
your kindness.
Father of five sons, husband to Luba Baktis (nee Dedula), grandfather to ten grandchildren, retired N.Y.C. Firefighter, Truck #111, Engine #214, Brooklyn, New York 14 years of service. Served in U.S. Marine Corps. and U.S. Army WWII. Second photo shows pop receiving an Metal "William H. Todd" from Mayor Wagner for saving the life of 3 children in an inferno on December 30, 1961. He was the last of his brothers to reach Heaven's Gate. His brothers Frank Baktis Peter P. Baktis and Simon J. Baktis, and daughter in law, Linda A. Baktis, also memoralized on FAG.
*********************************************
WHAT IS A FIREMAN?
He's the guy next door, a man's man with the memory of a little boy. He has never gotten over the excitement of engines and sirens and smoke and danger.
He's a guy like you and me with worries and unfulfilled dreams.
Yet he stands taller than most of us.
HE IS A FIREMAN.
He puts it all on the line when the bell rings.
A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of all men. He's a man who saves lives because he has seen too much death.
He's a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control. He's responsive to a child's laughter because his arms have held too many small bodies that will never laugh again.
He's a man who appreciates the simple pleausres of life...hot coffee held in numb, unbending fingers - a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling - the camarderie of brave men - the deving peace and selfless seervice of a job well done in the name of all men.
He doesn't wear buttons or wave flags or shout obsecenities. When he marches, it is to honor a fallen comrade.
He doesn't preach the brotherhood of men, He lives it!
*******************************************
Death is Nothing at All......By, Henry Scott Holland:
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way, which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me.
Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you. For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near. Just around the corner.
All is well.
*************************************************
WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN
They say that life is fleeting
I know that this is true
I left this world so quickly
With no goodbye to you.
I know how much you miss me
Your tears fall ever light
The pillow where you lay your head
Is wet with them at night.
I know your heart is hurting
The words we left, unsaid
I love you's left unspoken
Are spinning in your head.
The strength that I have carried
That served to make you whole
Remains to make you stronger
Within your grieving soul.
For you see, while you were weeping
On the day I passed away
At the gravesite near the flowers
Where my loved ones knelt to pray.
An angel came to see me
She took me by the hand
She led me to a kingdom
In a very distant land.
As I look down from the heaven
And see you standing there
Your heart so ever burdened
With more weight than it can bear.
I long to bring you comfort
I long to give you peace
I long to hold you closely
Cause all your tears to cease.
The joy I've found in heaven
Goes far beyond compare
The love that's so elusive
Can be found here everywhere.
The light is softly shining
There's no storm clouds here or rain
There's no teardrops found in heaven
There's no suffering, there's no pain.
You needn't be so troubled
Stay close to God and pray
That someday we'll be together
One bright and glorious day.
So my love, you shouldn't question
My dear you need not cry
I've gone to be with Jesus
I really didn't die.
*****************************************************
A VERY SPECIAL NOTE FOR M-BLANCO SHORE
Thank you so, so much M-Blanco Shore
for sponsoring my father Edward's FAG
memorial site. That was so very kind
of you. May you be blessed always for
your kindness.
*********************************************
WHAT IS A FIREMAN?
He's the guy next door, a man's man with the memory of a little boy. He has never gotten over the excitement of engines and sirens and smoke and danger.
He's a guy like you and me with worries and unfulfilled dreams.
Yet he stands taller than most of us.
HE IS A FIREMAN.
He puts it all on the line when the bell rings.
A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of all men. He's a man who saves lives because he has seen too much death.
He's a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control. He's responsive to a child's laughter because his arms have held too many small bodies that will never laugh again.
He's a man who appreciates the simple pleausres of life...hot coffee held in numb, unbending fingers - a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling - the camarderie of brave men - the deving peace and selfless seervice of a job well done in the name of all men.
He doesn't wear buttons or wave flags or shout obsecenities. When he marches, it is to honor a fallen comrade.
He doesn't preach the brotherhood of men, He lives it!
*******************************************
Death is Nothing at All......By, Henry Scott Holland:
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way, which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me.
Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect. Without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you. For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near. Just around the corner.
All is well.
*************************************************
WHISPERS FROM HEAVEN
They say that life is fleeting
I know that this is true
I left this world so quickly
With no goodbye to you.
I know how much you miss me
Your tears fall ever light
The pillow where you lay your head
Is wet with them at night.
I know your heart is hurting
The words we left, unsaid
I love you's left unspoken
Are spinning in your head.
The strength that I have carried
That served to make you whole
Remains to make you stronger
Within your grieving soul.
For you see, while you were weeping
On the day I passed away
At the gravesite near the flowers
Where my loved ones knelt to pray.
An angel came to see me
She took me by the hand
She led me to a kingdom
In a very distant land.
As I look down from the heaven
And see you standing there
Your heart so ever burdened
With more weight than it can bear.
I long to bring you comfort
I long to give you peace
I long to hold you closely
Cause all your tears to cease.
The joy I've found in heaven
Goes far beyond compare
The love that's so elusive
Can be found here everywhere.
The light is softly shining
There's no storm clouds here or rain
There's no teardrops found in heaven
There's no suffering, there's no pain.
You needn't be so troubled
Stay close to God and pray
That someday we'll be together
One bright and glorious day.
So my love, you shouldn't question
My dear you need not cry
I've gone to be with Jesus
I really didn't die.
*****************************************************
A VERY SPECIAL NOTE FOR M-BLANCO SHORE
Thank you so, so much M-Blanco Shore
for sponsoring my father Edward's FAG
memorial site. That was so very kind
of you. May you be blessed always for
your kindness.
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