Carl J. Bedigian

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Carl Bedigian, a native New Yorker, born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, collected Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, with a particular love for the Magic (light and motion) designs.

He loved them so much so that he dedicated a wall in his apartment to them, using early Keepsake Ornament store fixtures for his powered display.

At the time, his goal was to eventually buy a home so he could own and display even more of his magic ornaments.

Carl’s Hallmark Display (Christmas 2000)

His life story is one of heroism.

After battling leukemia as a child, Carl grew up and loved to travel. In those travels around the world he would often pick up recipes to add to a beloved hobby, cooking.  He may not have realized it at the time, but his talents in the kitchen would eventually come in handy.

He loved working with his hands, building a home or designing electronic circuit boards.  Those skills led him to the New York Transit Authority where he worked as an elevator engineer.  However, in 1993, he found his true calling, as a New York Fireman, where his love of cooking became invaluable to daily life at the firehouse.

214 Engine Company/111 Ladder Company

Fire House Memorial

Starting at Engine Company 228, he eventually moved to 214 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, known as the “Nuthouse,” where he would remain.

While stationed there, Carl heard of a young child in Europe who desperately needed a bone marrow transplant.  No doubt having suffered from leukemia as a child helped motivate his next decision—to donate bone marrow to that unknown child across the ocean.  The last time reported, that child had recovered and was thriving.

In 1998 Carl suffered a setback in his health with a spinal hemorrhage that left him paralyzed.  For many this would have been a permanent, life-changing trauma.  Carl, however, fought back. Within weeks he was walking again and eventually returned to serve the people of New York as a firefighter once again.

His wife said after that experience it left them both with the desire to live everyday as if it were their last.

FDNY Lieutenant Carl J. Bedigian
of Engine Company 214 in Brooklyn

Eighteen years ago today, Engine Company 214 was one of the first on scene responding to the calls for help at the World Trade Center Towers.  Carl was in the South tower lobby bravely serving those in need when it fell.  He was one of five members of his firehouse who never returned home.  Carl, newlywed by just a year, died as a hero at 35 years of age on September 11, 2001.

Ten years after his passing, his wife Michele wrote him a posthumous letter that was published in the book, “The Legacy Letters: Messages from 9/11 Family Members.”  Their story was later told on PBS Newshour.

A Wife’s Tribute to Her Husband

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Please consider:
Tunnel to Towers Foundation is a first-responders charity in honor of 9/11 hero Stephen Siller, who, while off-duty, raced on foot though the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to get to the twin towers, where he later died.  The Foundation serves surviving families of first-responders and military primarily through home building or paying off existing mortgages.