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Couriernews.com April 16, 2006 Fire victims remembered as loyal, kind
By
DEBORAH LYNN BLUMBERG FRANKLIN (Somerset) -- As friends
mourned Wednesday, officials ruled that the four-alarm house fire that
killed a volunteer firefighter and an elderly woman Tuesday is not
suspicious.
The day after the Whittier Avenue
fire, those close to East Franklin firefighter Kevin Apuzzio, 21, and
township resident Betty Scott, 75, remembered them as kind and dedicated
members of the community.
"Kevin lived his life to
help other people," said Rutgers University senior Matt Mulhern,
Apuzzio's classmate and a fellow Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity member.
"That was his mission in life."
Investigators were unable to
determine the exact cause of the fire, which broke out shortly after 6
a.m. Tuesday. But several circuits and a light fixture near the origin of
the fire in the living room between the basement ceiling tiles and the
first floor sustained significant damage, according to the Somerset County
Prosecutor's Office.
Both Apuzzio and Scott fell
through the home's first floor after Apuzzio led four other firefighters
into the house to rescue the woman. Her husband, Bill Scott, escaped the
fire and was not injured, authorities said. He was taken to Robert Wood
Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for evaluation but was not
admitted, police said.
Three other firefighters were
injured in the fire. Matthew Desmond, 21, of North Brunswick and Nicholas
Recine, 20, of Piscataway were released from area hospitals Tuesday. Ryan
Daughton, 21, a Rutgers student from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was scheduled to
be released Wednesday night from St. Barnabas Medical Center in
Livingston.
Sense of brotherhood
Around midday Wednesday at
Rutgers, Apuzzio's fraternity brothers and friends lingered on the porch
of the Delta Kappa Epsilon house on College Avenue. Apuzzio was a senior
at the university and a member of the Rutgers University Department of
Emergency Services. He volunteered with the East Franklin Volunteer Fire
Company, and his death was the department's first in the line of duty
since 1929.
Outside the fraternity house, a
banner reading "In Memory of Brother Kevin Apuzzio" hung from
the front railing. On the house's steps, votive candles flickered next to
a pile of red roses and pink carnations and framed photos of Apuzzio and
his friends. In one photo, a grinning Apuzzio made a funny face for the
camera as he donated blood.
Apuzzio's fraternity brothers
remembered him as a humble person who genuinely cared for others. He was
the fraternity's community service and fundraiser chairman.
"He really respected the
ideals of brotherhood and fraternity," said D.J. Pacheco, a Rutgers
alumnus and fraternity brother who heard about the fire on the news and
decided to spend Wednesday, his day off, with his fellow brothers.
"We were spoiled because we knew him so well."
Along with more than 100 friends
and fraternity brothers, Mulhern and Pacheco paid tribute to Apuzzio on
Tuesday night during a vigil. Delta Kappa Epsilon president Teddy
Louis-Jacques spoke for the fraternity.
"Your life has been as
inspiration to us all," Louis-Jacques said. "Your tragic passing
did not confirm to us that you are a hero. We already knew it. You embody
everything that our fraternity has tried to be."
An avid historian
Betty Scott was the mother of
township police officer Thomas Koolidge.
Mourning at their homes, friends
of Betty Scott remembered her as a kind woman with a passion for
Franklin's colonial history.
Betty Scott, a retired gift shop
manager, researched historic properties for the East Jersey Olde Towne
Village in Piscataway and was on the board of The Meadows Foundation in
Somerset. She wrote profiles on Franklin's historic Dutch homes for the
foundation.
Meadows Foundation Executive
Director Mark Else said the avid historian spent hours in the township
library gathering details from periodicals. Else has been friends with the
Scotts for 15 years, he said, and knew Betty Scott had hoped to publish a
book on the history of Franklin's founding families.
"She was a sweet person and
really dedicated to saving historic buildings," Else said. "She
was really a chronicler of our history."
Friend and Meadows Foundation
volunteer Johanna Hnedak met Betty Scott 20 years ago at an event at East
Jersey Olde Towne Village. The two often attended local history events and
lectures together, Hnedak said.
"We were truly history soul
mates," she said.
Hnedak recalled an outing to a
re-enactment of the Battle of Monmouth where the Scotts dressed in
colonial garb for the day.
Else said the two, who had been
married 45 years, were devoted to one another.
"Wherever Betty was, Bill
was," Hnedak said.
A funeral service for Betty Scott
will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Gleason Funeral Home at 1360 Hamilton
Street in Somerset. Burial will follow at Franklin Memorial Park in North
Brunswick.
Relatives and friends may pay
their respects on Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. at the
funeral home. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to
the East Franklin Volunteer Fire Company.
A funeral for Apuzzio will be
held Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. at St. Michael's R.C. Church at 1212 Kelly St.
at Vauxhall Road in Union.
Visitation will be held Monday
from noon to 9 p.m. at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family has
requested that donations be made to St. Michael's.
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