Reminders of family's practical jokester

Karen Carroll, Kathleen Gelman and Jim Kuveikis banter, laugh and kid each other. Their easy rapport and humor is a Kuveikis family hallmark.

Gone and sorely missed is the siblings' top jokester, brother Thomas Kuveikis, 48, a firefighter and East Williston native who died fighting the destruction at Twin Towers.

"He was a practical joker, any chance he could get," said Carroll, a home health aide who lives in upstate Wappingers Falls.

The 10 years between then and now have taken a toll on the family. But their resolve to carry on is not weakened.

"You can't live your life in fear," Carroll said.

Kuveikis joined the FDNY in 1977, following in his father Peter's footsteps. A wild kid at first, he found salvation through Alcohol Anonymous and turned his attention to spiritual matters, his family said.

"He hit his low, and AA was a huge part in changing him, getting him in touch with nature," said Jim Kuveikis, an engineer from Bohemia.

The things that remind them of their brother are the songs he loved to sing and play on his guitar: Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Lucinda Williams. Gelman, of Hampton Bays, remembered the song he loved to sing to his daughter Kristen, now 28 -- "Sweet Child O' Mine."

When Gelman read aloud names of the dead at Sunday's memorial ceremony, she choked up.

Carroll took a tougher approach.

"I refuse to let the horror destroy me," she said. "We have to move on and we have to do better for our country."