For years, Maureen McGinty has put a 9/11 tribute at her home along Southern Road in Richfield.
Her father, Anthony McGinty, spent 28 years with the Cleveland Fire Department at station No. 17 off Chester Avenue. He retired in 1982.
“He worked at that station during the Hough Riots at the time,” McGinty said. “It was a very busy active station, and he loved the work. He loved saving people's homes and businesses."
As part of the 9/11 tribute, she puts his work boots with his fireman’s helmet on top of them at the end of her driveway.
McGinty said the tribute is about honoring the sacrifice firefighters and their families make daily and the 343 FDNY who lost their lives responding to the terror attacks in 2001.
“It's my emotional connection to my father,” McGinty said. “And it was everybody's emotional connection to 9/11, and that memorial, it resonates with all of us… what tragedy happened on that day in the lives lost, especially the firefighters."
Monday night, on the 22nd anniversary of the attacks, she noticed her display was gone.
"I would have never thought that somebody would have taken it from here at the end of the driveway,” McGinty said. “Whether somebody thought that I was putting it out as trash or that I was trying to get rid of it. I don't know.”
McGinty hasn’t told her father, who’s 94-year-old, about the situation.
“I'm hoping that I get these artifacts back so I do not have to tell him the sad, sorrowful news.”
She filed a police report and has been checking with pawn shops and other places in hopes of finding the family heirlooms.
McGinty is pleading with whoever has the items to return them to her driveway or drop them off to the police.
“No questions asked if you made a mistake,” McGinty said. “This is the memory of a fireman—his fire helmet and his boots. Those things that kept him safe—that I had as a memento of my father's career, and they're gone."
Richfield Police said they are following up on tips regarding a tan Chevy S-10 with an extended cab and topper that was seen at the bottom of McGinty’s driveway around 6:45 p.m. Monday. Police are continuing to investigate and said they have not developed a suspect.
Aimee Pergalsky, Maureen’s neighbor and friend, is helping with the search. She, too, is the daughter of a career Cleveland firefighter who retired in 1982. She’s troubled by the theft but remains hopeful for answers.
“It's traumatic. It's very hurtful and worrisome,” Pergalsky said. “Number one that it can happen in our neighborhood. That it would happen or that someone would want to take what is obviously a family artifact. Plus, you know, the tribute to the 343 firefighters that lost their lives on 9-11-01… still have a hard time talking about it.”
McGinty hopes to get the items back soon, so they can once again be placed at the end of her driveway for next year’s 9/11 anniversary.
“That's my tribute- my memorial to the day,” she said.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
