Leaving 'hole in the<br> skyline' couple seeks peace <br> in Jupiter


Georgette and John Gill,
above, at their wedding in 1990,
flanked by Paul and his sister Michelle.

By Randall Murray Staff Writer
September 7, 2002

Four days shy of a year ago, Georgette Gill was doubled over in anguish at Los Angeles International Airport screaming, "My God, My God!"

Today she's planning on leaving New York City, the place with a hole in its skyline and more pain than she and her husband can bear. They are moving to Jupiter.

On Sept. 11, 2001, John and Georgette Gill of Queens, N.Y., were returning from a long-delayed anniversary vacation in Hawaii. They landed in Los Angeles about 8:30 a.m. New York time and were waiting for their flight home when the local telecast was interrupted.

The ghastly images of the twin towers of the World Trade Center burning and crumbling filled the screen, and the couple flashed on John's son, Georgette's stepson, Paul Gill, a NYC firefighter.

And Georgette screamed.


Paul John Gill, 34, who grew up "a normal kid, always getting in trouble," according to his father, died trying to rescue people from the Marriott Hotel attached to the World Trade Center. His remains were not found. Paul was the father of two young sons and was doing what he always wanted to do -- help people as a firefighter. All 15 of Paul Gill's fellow firefighters from Engine Co. 54 perished with him.

Today John, a project director in construction, and Georgette, a legal secretary, are counting the days until they leave New York and start up a new life in Abacoa.


Paul poses with his two
sons Joshua, left, & Aaron

"We live on the water in Queens," Georgette explained last week. "There's a hole in our skyline today with the towers gone, and there's a hole in our lives. We see planes taking off from LaGuardia Airport, and I see weapons. Flying back to New York from Los Angeles was the scariest thing we've ever done."

John's had trouble coping with the loss of his only son. "I know he's with the Lord and at peace," John said by phone last week, "but I'd like to have him back. This whole thing has shown me we can be gone in a blink."

Paul's company had been among the first to respond to the first airplane strike on the north tower, and were helping evacuate the injured from the 22-story hotel between the two towers when hell broke loose ... and fell upon them.

John recalled the sentiment of those early days: "There were people running out of the buildings, and there was my son and his friends running into it. He was a hero."

Jupiter looms large in the future of John and Georgette Gill. But this is not alien territory. Josephine Demerac and her husband, Jack, have lived in Tequesta for 11 years, and the Gills have visited them often. Jo and Georgette go back 29 years. "We worked together in New York," Jo said last week. Jack's retired and Jo works in real estate with VIP Properties of Distinction. They are looking forward to having their friends close by.

"They'll be happier here," Jo said. "They were going to make the move eventually, but this forced their hand. There's more to life than going into Manhattan every day."

So the Gills are building a home in the new Tuscany community in Abacoa ... and looking forward to becoming part of Jupiter.

"We needed to be here in New York after 9-11," said Georgette by phone. "But now it's too much; so many memories everywhere. We have trouble sleeping, and when we do get to sleep, there are these terrible dreams."

Why Jupiter? Twelve years of visiting twice a year with the Demeracs have brought the Gills into sync with the rhythm of the place.

"I enjoy being near water," said John, "and we like Abacoa very much."

What makes the move more comforting is the fact that long-time neighbors also are moving down and will live close by in Abacoa.

But the memory of "Paulie" scratches at their consciousness constantly ... his life, his death, his memory. John and Georgette constructed a Web site -- www.angelfire.com/ny5/paulgill -- in honor of the young hero. It contains a written statement by John, "A Father's Love," which is difficult to read because of the raw emotion rippling through it.

"You were such a ball of energy, and I really liked that ... it never mattered to me when you were a young tyke -- always getting into things, making messes around the house, scampering here and there.

"I can still feel your young hand in mine when we walked together. I feel your weight when I had to carry you because you didn't want to be in the stroller."

Toward the end of the tribute, John wrote, "I'm hurting, like all parents, wanting to know exactly where you are at that Holy site -- to place a marker, to say "Here Is My Only Son, He Gave His Life So Others May Live'."

So Jupiter beckons ... the water, the green space, the new house with a big porch, the golf and the Demeracs' two grandchildren. Paul's widow, Tina, took their two sons, Aaron and Joshua, and moved to Connecticut. That's another painful disconnection in the Gills' life.

John plans to put his engineering skills to work here, but not full-time. He's teetering between working and retiring. "I like to golf a lot and get outdoors," he said, his tone lightening. "There are a lot of great people in New York, but the situation is all around us here."

After driving into "The City" for many years, Georgette laughs and said she is looking forward to "a whole year where I don't have to get into the car."

But they know that wherever they go, whatever they do, the lingering pain of Sept. 11 and the death of their personal hero will be there, keeping them awake, troubling their dreams.

Recently a man whose young children were abducted 11 years ago, never to be found, commented in a radio interview, "You never get over something like this. But you know you're dealing with it when you wake up one day, and it's not the very first thing you think of."

John and Georgette Gill are moving, slowly and painfully, in that direction.

randall.murray@scripps.com

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