Firefighter dad spends life telling others about son’s death

? Lee Ielpi and his son Jonathan were both firefighters. When Sept. 11 took the life of one, it became the life of the other.

Lee Ielpi’s message begins with his son’s mission: Jonathan Ielpi was 29, a member of Squad 288, a husband and father of two. He was one of 343 members of the city’s fire department killed when terrorists hijacked jets and crashed them into the twin towers.

“The men in uniform did what they were supposed to do that day,” Ielpi says. “Those men went up those stairs, those men tried to help those people.”

As co-founder of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, built in a converted deli next to ground zero on Liberty Street, Lee Ielpi’s mission is to help visitors remember the more than 2,700 people killed in the attacks in New York. Like all of the guides who lost loved ones or survived the attacks, his tours are personal.

“Our job is to tell our story quickly and convey to you the horribleness of that day through my story,” he said. “It’s for Jonathan, the many Jonathans, the many Marys and Sues, the many sons and daughters, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives.”

People come from around the world to take self-guided tours through the center, listen to stories, look at pictures and share their feelings with the Sept. 11 family. The guides take visitors on tours in the neighborhood around ground zero.

Ielpi, whose grandfather immigrated from Italy and settled the family in Great Neck, will never tire of talking about his son, he said when asked how much longer he would stay involved.

“Jonathan had an absolute total desire and love to help people and fight fires. He was so excited about being a fireman. When he got on, he was proud as a pig in the wallow. He didn’t go to work, he went to play,” Ielpi said.

Ielpi was with Rescue 2 until he hurt his knee and shoulder fighting a fire in 1994. Surgery didn’t help enough, so in 1996, after 26 years with the department, he retired.

He returned as a volunteer to help with the Sept. 11 Families Association, a support group for families of victims.

Ielpi and fellow volunteer Jennifer Adams, who lost a good friend in the attacks, thought there should be some kind of remembrance before a permanent memorial and museum is scheduled to open in 2009.

The pair spent 2 1/2 years helping to raise $7.5 million, rallying support, and rounding up volunteers, artifacts, memorabilia and photos needed to open the center in the former deli next to the Engine 10/Ladder 10 firehouse on Liberty Street.

Since the center opened to the public on Sept. 18, 2006, more than 200,000 people have visited its five galleries. More than 14,000 have filled out cards adding their voices to the memory chronicles at Tribute.

Visitors can listen to survivors tell their stories through headphones or read the sentiments of strangers on bulletin boards or in bound books. For many, tears will blur the words.

“You could cry all day,” said Meriam Lobel, who is in charge of the memory card collection.

An airline pilot attached a set of wings this spring to a note that read, “I find it extremely difficult to express my grief and sadness in mere words. It is an overwhelming feeling of emptiness and disbelief, a hollowness that aches through my body, mind and soul.”

Jonathan Ielpi’s coat and helmet are on display in one gallery; a picture of him sleeping with his sons is on a wall in another area.

“How many people can talk about their loved one six years later every day? It is therapeutic for me. It’s rewarding for me to be able to talk about all these people and I can talk about my son,” Ielpi said.

“It’s like he’s still here in a way.”