Police Officer Walwyn Stuart

Officer Walwyn Stuart was at his PATH station post in the World Trade Center on September 11th. After the attack began, he got a trainload of people to return to New Jersey, then evacuated the station. He then went into the North Tower to participate in the rescue effort. At his memorial service on October 18, 2001, his wife, Thelma, talked about how loving he was and of the life they’d been building in Valley Stream, New York with their baby daughter, Amanda. Officer Stuart was the youngest of six children growing up in Brooklyn. He enjoyed playing baseball and chess. He attended the State University of New York – Stony Brook for two years before joining the New York Police Department, working out of the 88th precinct in Brooklyn and earning commendations during his two years there. For the next year and a half, he worked undercover in the Narcotics Division of the Organized Crime Control Bureau. After being promoted to detective, he continued to work undercover. He joined the Port Authority Police Department when he learned that his wife was pregnant. Their daughter, Amanda, celebrated her first birthday on September 28, 2001. PORTRAITS OF GRIEF, THE NEW YORK TIMES When the Hugs Ran Out Oh, the mouth he had, that Walwyn Stuart. His smile was incandescent, and his kisses ever-flowing. His wife, Thelma, used to chide him over his enthusiasm for his newborn daughter – You’re going to smother her! – and Mrs. Stuart didn’t much like it when he came after her with his hugs and smooches. Well, actually, she did. Just not all the time. Mr. Stuart, 28, was a Port Authority police officer who loved his family, chess and the Lord. He had been a narcotics detective with the New York City police, but switched jobs after Mrs. Stuart became pregnant because he wanted a safer assignment. He became a father in 2000 and when he worked late nothing meant more to him than returning home to Valley Stream, N.Y. and holding little Amanda. He was great with children, but Mrs. Stuart would sometimes look on, just a little worried. “I would be like, ‘Honey, that’s enough,’” Mrs. Stuart said. “He once said to me, ‘You know, you never know when the day is going to come and you are going to want that hug from me and I’m not going to be there for you.’”