Deaths

By Erica L. Green
Medill Reports - Chicago

Kathleen Lynch was 7 years old when her father was found lying at Polk and Clark streets under his police motorcycle.

She was told by his fellow patrolmen that his fatal injuries were a result of an apparent hit and run - and that Chicago police officer Samuel Lynch died a hero.

Nearly 40 years later, Lynch said as she watched her father's star officially enshrined in the Superintendent's Honored Star Case Feb. 19 that she can now believe it.

Patricia Hansen, 44, of Mount Greenwood, died Thursday from injuries incurred during an auto accident May 25.

While driving home at about 11 p.m. near the intersection of 143rd Street and Ridgeland Avenue, Hansen braked abruptly while driving through a green light. Her husband was driving the vehicle behind hers. He was unable to stop and collided with his wife's vehicle ahead of him.

A passenger in Hansen's car - her daughter, eight-year-old Kiersten - suffered from several broken bones. Her husband suffered minor injuries.

A chilly wind and overcast skies served as the setting Wednesday morning for a final goodbye to William Grant, the Chicago firefighter who was killed Friday when a school bus collided with the fire truck he was in while he and three other Chicago firefighters were on a call.

The procession from Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn to Christ the King Church in Beverly headed east on 103rd Street through Grant's home neighborhood of Beverly. From Milwaukee to Detroit, fellow firefighters joined the procession as it passed hundreds of school children, parents who had bundled up their infants against the 50-degree temperature and longtime residents of a neighborhood that has mourned his passing but celebrated his life in these last several days.

Along the route, which stretched from 103rd Street and Cicero Avenue to the church at 9235 S. Hamilton Ave., thousands said their final goodbyes to a man who served his family, his neighborhood and his city.

Visitation for William Grant, the 44-year-old Chicago firefighter killed in an on-duty traffic accident Friday morning, is scheduled for 3 p.m. - 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home, 4727 W. 103rd St., Oak Lawn. His funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Christ the King Church, 9235 S. Hamilton Ave.

Area firehouses lowered their flags Friday after the 20-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department and Beverly resident was killed when a school bus collided with the fire truck he and three other firefighters were in at the intersection of 59th and Wells streets.

"He was a good man," said his oldest daughter, Kristin, 7. He also left behind his wife, Sharon, and twoother children - Caroline, 6, and Danny, 3. Grant was the first Chicago firefighter killed on duty since 2000.