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Deaths shroud hero's accolades in solemnity

But accolades can't ease the security guard's heavy heart when he learns that both people he saved later died.

By ALEX LEARY
Published March 9, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Hours after crawling into a burning apartment to rescue a 90-year-old woman and her disabled son, Richard Stokes knelt before his bed and said a prayer.

"I asked the Lord for them to recover, to keep his guiding hands over them," Stokes said. "Every night I put them in my prayers."

The 48-year-old security guard was on his knees again Tuesday morning. Helen and Edward Rekar, he learned, died from their injuries in the blaze at Lakebrook Park apartments at 200 78th Ave. N.

"I wish there was a different outcome," Stokes said softly.

The solemn mood lingered as Stokes later stood inside the Central Avenue office of Excelsior Defense Inc. and bashfully accepted a hero's praise from his bosses.

"Throughout the entire incident, he displayed complete professionalism, inspiring courage and total devotion to duty," Kristofor Halverson, managing director of the private security firm, wrote in a certificate of valor given to Stokes.

The firm gave him a bonus and gift certificates for Carrabba's and Outback Steakhouse. Stokes, who earns $7 an hour, also got a check from the company that manages the apartments. The city of St. Petersburg said Tuesday it plans to honor him as well. When it was his time to talk, Stokes, dressed in his blue work uniform despite having the day off, said he didn't feel like a hero.

"It was just my job." Then, turning to a television news camera, he offered condolences to the Rekar family: "My heart goes out to the family. All my prayers," he said.

The fire started about 5:40 p.m. Friday after Helen Rekar pitched a cigarette in the small apartment she shares with her son, fire officials said. Smoke was pouring from Apt. 109 when Stokes dropped and crawled inside, holding his breath.

The 380-pound former Dixie Hollins High School defensive end pulled Helen Rekar out first then went back for her 63-year-old son. Both Rekars were in wheelchairs and unconscious. They were taken to Tampa General Hospital's burn unit with severe injuries. Family members who visited Saturday encountered a bleak scene.

"No one should ever have to see anything like that," said Helen Rekar's niece, Mildred Stansky of St. Petersburg.

Edward "Big Ed" Rekar died Sunday. His mother died Monday.

"In one way I'm glad they passed," said another son, Frank Rekar. "This way they're up in heaven and out of their misery."

The pair shared a love for baseball, especially the New York Mets and the Devil Rays. Helen Rekar moved to St. Petersburg from Brooklyn, N.Y., in the late 1970s, her niece said, with her husband, now deceased. She was a retired garment worker. Her son worked as a butcher in New York. About four years ago, he developed circulation problems in his legs, making it difficult for him to get around.

Their deaths do not detract from Stokes' actions or others who worked to save them, including two teenagers and several neighbors, Stansky said. "Everyone who participated is a hero. They did everything they could."

At the very least, said Marshall Smith of Excelsior Defense, Stokes and the others provided the family time to say their last goodbyes.

"That time," Halverson added, "is priceless."

As he prepared to go home Tuesday, Stokes said said he had no particular plans. Unmarried and without kids, he simply likes to relax around the house, watching TV. He has worked security for years and before that at the St. Petersburg Times printing plant and as a mover.

"I'm just an ordinary guy," Stokes said. "If I had to do it again, I would. It was the human thing to do."

[Last modified March 9, 2005, 00:54:20]