Friends, family members and fellow firemen will remember Levittown Fire Department Chief Ron Kerwin this weekend at memorial services to be held in Levittown and Merrick. Chief Kerwin lost his life heroically at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 as a member of the New York City Fire Department's Squad 288. He was 42-years-old.

Chief Kerwin, who joined the Levittown Fire Department in 1985, also worked for the New York City Fire Department for 20 years. In addition, he was a volunteer in the Jericho Fire Department for some time as he grew up in nearby Hicksville. In the Levittown Fire Department, although he often had to carry an official demeanor as chief, his friends and those who knew him well will remember him as a family man with a great sense of humor.

"He was a very caring and helpful person," said his wife Diane Kerwin. "He had such a great sense of humor. I think a lot of people saw him [with a different side], I guess since he was the Chief he had to play that role, but he just had a way of making everybody laugh," Mrs. Kerwin said. "A Chief has to keep up the image of being official, most members though could see the other side of him."

Mrs. Kerwin said her husband was always willing to help residents in the local community, whether it be through the fire department or otherwise. She recalled one time when he saw a woman walking in the community with a double stroller and her dog and noticed that the wheel had fallen off her stroller. She said that her husband packed up the woman, the children, the stroller and the dog into his car and drove them home. "When he came home he said 'All I could think of was you,'" she said. "That was Ronnie. It didn't matter who it was, whether he knew them or not. He was always there to help people."

Deputy Chief of the Levittown Fire Department John Rottkamp agreed, saying that oftentimes the department would get less than emergency calls such as if somebody locked their keys in the car, and Chief Kerwin would always volunteer to help out.

"We used to kid around with each other a lot," Rottkamp said, adding that his and Chief Kerwin's family have always been very close. "They worked their way up together," Mrs. Kerwin added, noting how when Chief Kerwin was First Deputy Chief, Rottkamp was Second Deputy, etc. "John was right behind him, always there." Rottkamp added that both his children and the Kerwin children enjoy playing together.

Mrs. Kerwin said that the community has been incredible through this time of grievance. "I have to thank them for their support, their concerns, their generosity, their prayers," she said. "They've been amazing."

She added that in addition to the community, members of the Levittown Fire Department have helped her family cope. "They spend a lot of time here," Mrs. Kerwin said of the members of the fire department. "They've taken me under their wing." She added that although the fire department was her husband's outlet, many members have been helping her and her family deal with the situation. Rottkamp said that it was always clear that the Chief was a family man. "He loved the volunteer fire service but he also loved his family," Rottkamp said.

"He was the fun one out of the two of us," Mrs. Kerwin said. "I was the one who said 'come on do your homework' and then daddy would come home and everybody got tickles and hugs and he always got the good end. He was the one that always planned everything, he was spontaneous," she said, noting that he would plan not only family vacations but also spontaneous nice drives the family could take together.

"They're coping as best as they can," Mrs. Kerwin said of her children, whose ages range from elementary to middle school. She added that her husband would always rearrange his schedule to be at as many of his children's events as he possibly could, including basketball, lacrosse, baseball and fishing. "He would always work his schedule around to make sure that he was there for whatever he could possibly be there for," she said.

"He had a great laugh too," Mrs. Kerwin added. "I'd be in the kitchen washing dishes and would hear him laugh from the [other] room," she said, adding that she would always have to go see what was so funny.

"He was a wonderful husband," she said. "He was my best friend."

Chief Kerwin is survived by his wife Diane and three children Ryan, 12; Keith, 9 and Colleen, 6.

The memorial will take place this weekend in both Levittown and Merrick. Tonight, Nov. 30, a memorial will be held at the Levittown Fire House on Gardiners Ave. from 6 to 9 p.m. and church services will be held tomorrow, Dec. 1 at United Methodist Church in Merrick, 1425 Merrick Ave., beginning at 11 a.m.