Victim Remembered as Good Son, Fun-Loving Companion

Alexander John Handy, maintenance engineer who was the only person killed in last week’s First Interstate Bank fire, was remembered Wednesday as an affectionate son devoted to his parents and as a fun-loving adventurer by friends he had known since kindergarten.

His co-workers, high school classmates and former teachers were among the more than 500 people who attended Handy’s funeral at St. Anne’s Melchite Church in North Hollywood.

Handy, 24, was burned to death in the May 4 blaze when the elevator he was in became stuck with the doors open on the 12th floor, where the fire is believed to have started. He had been sent to investigate a smoke alarm and boarded Elevator No. 33, using a special fire key to activate a switch inside the elevator, officials said. Forty other people were injured in the fire.

“To me he’s a hero that saved other people’s lives,” said Handy’s mother, Frida Handy, 59. “Alex was very brave.”

There were many tears and muffled sobs from those attending the funeral service, some of whom were family members who had traveled from Denmark, Honduras and various American states for his burial.

“You can see from the turnout today everybody’s heart is really bleeding,” said Khader Hamide, a family friend.

Kimberly Handy, Alexander Handy’s wife, sat teary-eyed and solemn through the funeral and burial in Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Hollywood. The couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Brittany, played on the grassy hill where her father, who had served in the Air Force, was buried with a 21-gun salute.

About 30 co-workers, many of whom had survived the fire, attended the funeral. They gathered together, embracing.

“It hurts me so much,” said Ana Matijasevic, who attended with fire survivors Radmila Radich and Zora Imamovic. “It could have been us.”

Imamovic is still haunted by the memory of Handy’s screams for help, she said. “I heard ‘Elevator 33 is full of smoke’ and just screams, more like a child crying, for about two minutes. Then the screams stopped and there was silence: I knew he was in there and that he was dead.”

Seven pallbearers who grew up with Handy and remained his closest friends, described him as a man who loved the outdoors, camping, deep sea fishing, football, baseball and practical jokes.

“He had the best laugh,” said James Madrigal, 24. “He had the laugh that could get us all crying with laughter. You would know his laugh anywhere.”

The seven had spent the last three weekends with Handy. On the last one they celebrated his 24th birthday and helped him build a patio.

On Sunday, the seven friends-- who playfully called themselves the “Camellia Street Hoods” after the street many of them grew up on--watched one of the many videotapes Handy had made of their gatherings.

“He’s touched us all so much,” said John Dittes, 23. “My grand kids are going to be hearing stories about Alex for a long time.”