By Kim Kanssen
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — “I extend my deeepest sympathy, on behalf of every Chicagoan and my family.”
The words were simple, even commonplace, but the emotion behind them was too much to bear for Mayor Daley and the thousands of mourners at firefighter Corey Ankum’s funeral Thursday morning.
Choking back tears, Daley told more than 3,000 firefighters, friends and relatives of Ankum packed into the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn that the 34-year-old devoted father of three was a true “hero, “a brother in blue” and “an ideal firefighter.”
Ankum was killed alongside fellow firefighter Eddie Stringer on Dec. 22 when a roof collapsed on him as he searched for vagrants in the aftermath of a fire at an abandoned laundry on 75th Street. Ankum was married to Daley’s secretary, Demeka Ankum.
“Every time I spoke to him, all the time, it didn’t matter where I was or who I was with, the first thing he said was ‘I love the Fire Department,’ ” the mayor said, describing it as “an honor” to have known Ankum and his family.
“What is a hero today?” he said. “It’s not those that you may read in the newspaper: sports figures, Hollywood stars. It’s not politicians, not media people, not union or business people. It’s those like Corey, and 568 other people, personnel that gave their lives to the Chicago Police Department and Fire Department. That is what a hero is all about, and let’s not ever forget that.”
Mourners rose in a standing ovation as Daley concluded his speech, telling Ankum, “I salute you.”
A few feet away, the firefighter’s casket was draped in the city flag, next to his soot-smudged helmet and ax: heartbreaking symbols of the Chicago Fire Department’s worst tragedy in a dozen years.
For more than 40 minutes earlier Thursday, countless fellow firefighters from across the nation in dress blues passed in front of the open casket, each giving their own white-glove salute to their fallen comrade. Several relatives stooped to kiss Ankum.
With bagpipes wailing across the murky December skies, the firefighters later stood at attention in somber formation outside the church, as the Tower Ladder 34 truck Ankum worked on was loaded with dozens of floral tributes and the casket was placed on top of Engine 72 for Ankum’s journey to Lincoln Cemetery.
During the service, a bell rang three times, then three times again and finally five times more in the traditional signal used to mark the end of an emergency and a firefighter’s return home. Ankum’s widow was presented with a gold medal in his honor by the International Association of Firefighters.
And Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff, whose father was a firefighter who also died in a roof collapse, choked up as he described Ankum’s “calling to something bigger than all of us.”
The sheer number of emergency workers paying their respects prompted Ankum’s pastor, the Rev. Louis Jones, to joke during the eulogy, “Is anybody on the job?”
In a sometimes light-hearted tribute, Jones prompted laughter again when he described dining with the Ankums and being surprised to see Corey, a noted, self-trained chef, doing the cooking. “You got one that works, cooks, cleans house and loves you - you hold on!” he said he advised Demeka Ankum.
He urged mourners to continue their support for Ankum’s widow and daughters, Demia and Baylee, and son, Torey.
Ankum’s twin sister, Charmain, wrote in the service program, “I’m so devastated how your life has ended that it will take me another lifetime to get it together. All I can say is that God don’t make no mistakes. He must have needed an educated firefighter to take over.
“Until I see you again my twin you go ahead and touch everyone’s heart up there like you have done down here on earth.”
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