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Doing Things Right

Calixto Anaya Jr.'s wife, Marie, remembers the New York City firefighter everyone knew as Charlie as "very attentive to the little things that keep love alive," whether it was taking days off for activities with their three children or showing up with flowers when she did not expect them.

"Charlie always wanted to do things the right way," Mrs. Anaya said. When they were married in 1990 in a simple civil service, Mr. Anaya insisted that they begin saving for the big church wedding her parents could not afford. Six months later, they marched down the aisle of St. Rita's Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn.

Mr. Anaya, a former Marine who re- enlisted when the Persian Gulf War broke out in 1991, believed true patriotism meant flying the American flag, not only in front of their home in Suffern, N.Y., but also wherever the family came to rest on camping trips or jaunts to the beach.

Mr. Anaya, 35, loved the Yankees in baseball and the Giants in football with similar exuberance. He preserved the hole he punched in his basement ceiling while celebrating the Yankees' World Series victory over the Mets last year.
Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on November 23, 2001.


Calixto "Charlie" Anaya Jr., 35, of Suffern, New York, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of Desert Storm, a firefighter with Engine 4 of the New York Fire Department, died tragically in the line of duty during the attack on the World Trade Center on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. A gathering of family and friends to remember Charlie is scheduled for Wednesday, November 7, 2001, 1-3 and 6-9 p.m., at Suffern Volunteer Hose Company No. 1, 35 Washington Avenue, Suffern. Firematic services are scheduled for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. A Memorial Mass is scheduled for Thursday, November 8, noon, at Sacred Heart Church, 125 Lafayette Avenue, Suffern. Memorial donations are appreciated to The Calixto Anaya Jr. Children's Fund, c/o Provident Savings Bank, 71 Lafayette Avenue, Suffern, NY 10901. Arrangements entrusted to Wanamaker & Carlough, Inc. Funeral Directors, Suffern, New York.