Thousands gather to bid farewell to Worcester firefighter Jon D. Davies Sr.

By Brian R. Ballou and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

WORCESTER – Fighting back tears, Worcester firefighter Brian Carroll today spoke of his Rescue 1 partner Jon D. Davies Sr. as a good man with a big appetite for work, for food, for friendship, for his sons -- and for life.

“Jon Davies only stood about 5 feet 9 inches tall,’’ Carroll said during the funeral Mass for Davies at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. “But Jon was a very big man. He had big muscles. He had a big appetite for food. He had a big appetite for life. He had big broad shoulders that could handle any load life could put on him.’’

“But when I think of Jon, I think about his heart. Jon Davies had a big heart,” he said.

Davies and Carroll rushed inside 49 Arlington St. last Thursday to search for a tenant reported to be still inside the building. Davies died when the building collapsed on him. Carroll fell into the basement and was rescued by his colleagues who conducted a furious 45-minute-long search and extrication effort.

“There was no one I trusted more than Jon,’’ Carroll said, his voice cracking. “I knew he would always have my back. Jon was special to me.’’

Carroll carried Davies’s battered and soot-stained helmet during the funeral procession that wound through the heart of this city, traveling past thousands of firefighters standing two or more deep on the sidewalk, who saluted when Engine 12 slowly rolled by, carrying Davies’s casket.

The firefighters hailed from other Massachusetts departments and from departments in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

To the sound of bagpipes, Davies’s body was escorted into the church where his family – his fiancée, three sons, mother, and siblings -- gathered in a front pew, his two oldest sons wearing their Air Force uniforms. His helmet was then placed atop his casket for the service.

Addressing Davies’s sons, Carroll said, “You were everything to your father. He talked about you all the time. He was proud of the men you have become.’’

Carroll did not talk about the fatal incident, but did publicly thank Davies’s brother, Rob, who met with Carroll after Jon Davies was pronounced dead.

Carroll said he “blamed myself for everything” but was comforted when Rob Davies told him that Jon Davies trusted his partner completely, and that his death was “God’s plan,’’ not due to some mistake by Carroll.

In his eulogy, Rob Davies described how he followed in his brother’s footsteps throughout their lives together in Worcester. He also drew chuckles from the packed church when he spoke of how Jon Davies sometimes scared away suitors for their younger sister, Christina.

Although they were close, Rob Davies said it was only since his brother’s death that he learned that Jon Davies had rescued a woman when he was 17 years old. Rob Davies said Jon Davies had spotted a distraught woman on the ice of a Worcester lake and then risked his life to guide her to safety.

“Jon has been saving lives since he was 17 years old. ... Even today, even in death, he continues to save lives, as he was an organ donor,’’ Rob Davies said. “I will always wonder who received his heart. It’s a big heart, it’s a grand heart full of compassion, love, selfless devotion to others.’’

The Rev. Walter Riley, whose white vestments had the Worcester Fire Department shield sewn onto it, delivered the homily. He included references to the New England Patriots and the apostles who followed Christ as he talked about the sacrifices made by firefighters.

“This word ‘sacrifice,’ it’s a word that gets bandied around. It gets tossed around just like a football by Tom Brady on a Sunday afternoon,’’ Riley said. “It’s a word that goes in all directions. It goes left. It goes right. It goes down the middle.’’

Riley also mentioned the Patriots’ defense, saying they have shown a penchant for giving up yardage this season. “Some sacrifices are quite long, 20 yards plus, something the Patriots defense is very good at giving up this year,’’ he said.

He then dropped the talk of football “sacrifices” and spoke of Davies: “There is the highest form of sacrifice, we call it the ultimate sacrifice. It’s beyond a gamewinner. … It is the type of sacrifice that changes our community. It changes our world; it changes our person. The act that is performed by such a person remains embedded in our souls for the rest of our lives.’’

Riley said he saw Davies’s body at UMass Memorial Medical Center after doctors had realized they could not save his life.

“He looked like he was sleeping. His appearance was very peaceful,’’ Riley said. “After all the craziness of the previous two or three hours, he looked like he was taking a big teddy bear nap.’’

At the church, the funeral procession had passed underneath a giant American flag hung between two ladder trucks.

Davies’s funeral was the first for a fallen city firefighter since 1999, when six Worcester firefighters died as they searched an abandoned warehouse for two homeless people believed inside. They had already left the building.

In the Arlington Street fire, authorities spent several days combing the charred wreckage for the remains of a tenant, but then announced Wednesday that the person had been found alive. Ronald D. Robbins has been questioned about the fire, and was arraigned in Worcester District Court on unrelated charges, authorities said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

State political leaders at the service include US Senators John F. Kerry and Scott Brown; US Representative James McGovern; Governor Deval Patrick; Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, a Worcester resident; and House Speaker Robert DeLeo.