By BRAD HAMILTON
June 8, 2008
When firefighter Kevin Prior lost his life in the north tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, he left behind a heartbroken fiancée, a lifelong best friend and a mom and dad who adored him.
At his funeral at their old elementary school parish, the best friend, Ed Wheeler, stood next to the fiancée, Doreen Noone, and delivered a eulogy.
"Don't worry, Kevin," he said. "I'm going to take care of Doreen as if she was my own."
Two years later, the fiancée and the friend were engaged.
As they prepared for their wedding and honeymoon in Tahiti, a process server knocked on their door at 6 a.m.
"We were served with papers five or six days before we were to get married," said Wheeler, an NYPD sergeant.
Kevin's parents were suing to stop the FDNY pension board from awarding half the firefighter's yearly tax-free payments to Noone, 36.
She and 13 others had successfully lobbied to change city law and award death benefits to the fiancées and other "domestic partners" of 9/11 heroes. Anyone over 18 who had shared finances, kids or property with, had a long-term relationship with, or had "intent to marry" the deceased qualified.
Most of Prior's benefits had already gone to his parents, including a lump sum of $1.5 million.
A judge sent the matter back to the board, which again ruled for Noone.
Under that decision, the parents and Noone were each awarded $37,600 annually.
But now the parents have taken their son's ex-fiancée to trial.
And Wheeler, his best friend, is in the middle of the feud. The childhood pals were born one day apart - Kevin on Jan. 18, Ed on Jan. 19.
"Kevin used to joke that the cab his mom took home from the hospital was the same one my mom took to have me," said Wheeler, 35, who's assigned to the 66th Precinct in Borough Park.
Marian Prior took the stand in Brooklyn court last week and said Noone slowly lost contact with them after 9/11 and never told them about her intention to seek the money.
She found out from a Web site notice, said Prior, who quickly fired off a letter to city lawyers insisting that "Kevin did not have a domestic partner," she said.
Noone had struggled after Kevin's death and leaned most heavily on his friends. When she returned to work as a fifth-grade teacher and found she had gone back too soon, it was Wheeler she turned to for help.
She said she was surrounded by firefighters who offered their support.
