Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Timothy John O’Leary’s journey to becoming a firefighter began when he was just 18. He was a passenger in a car that crashed in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and was deeply moved by how the firefighters handled his broken leg. That experience inspired him to join the fire service, and eventually, he became a member of the Chicago Fire Department. But years later, only about 25 miles from where the accident occurred, tragedy struck again—this time, it took his life.

“He was my best friend and my love. We had big plans for the future. He was about to retire, but now everything is gone,” said his wife, Laura Bundy-O’Leary, over the phone on Friday afternoon.

O’Leary, 54, was driving a Toyota SUV south on Interstate 43 near Wisconsin Route 140 around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday when he collided with the back of a semi-truck near an overpass. According to police, the SUV was wedged under the truck's trailer, having hit it with significant force. The rear window was shattered, allowing a paramedic to jump through and reach O’Leary as firefighters worked to free him from the driver’s side. “As soon as we got him out of the vehicle, he was on a backboard, on a stretcher, and in an ambulance within a minute,” said one of the responding firefighters. He was taken to Beloit Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:18 p.m. Tuesday, according to Barry Irmen, a spokesman for the Rock County medical examiner’s office.

O’Leary and his wife had spent the day installing shelves in their home in Wisconsin. He had told her he would make a quick stop at a storage locker and be back in time for dinner. When he didn’t return, she assumed he had gone back to their Chicago home, where new windows were scheduled to be installed the next morning. As the hours passed and he didn’t answer calls or texts, she grew worried. At 2 a.m., she began retracing his steps, and a chilling feeling came over her.

“I called hospitals, I called the police, even the jails,” she said. “I tried to follow his path, and then I just knew—‘I think he’s dead.’” Soon after, her stepson confirmed her worst fear: Wisconsin state police had arrived at their home on the Northwest Side with the news.

O’Leary, who had five siblings and grew up on the Northwest Side, came from a close-knit Irish family. He left behind three children and two stepchildren, the latter of whom are Bundy-O’Leary’s. His son, John, followed in his father’s footsteps by enrolling in a two-year paramedic program at Loyola University Medical Center and hopes to become a firefighter. For now, he is attending the police academy, according to his mother.

“For 32 years, he served Chicago. People even named babies after him after he delivered them or found them in garbage cans,” she said. “He was so loved. He would give you the shirt off his back—or even the skin if you needed it.” She remembered his laughter and his beautiful eyes.

O’Leary spent nearly 30 years with the Chicago Fire Department, and his last partner was Capt. Sam Kamberis of Engine 125. “He was a very dedicated firefighter,” Kamberis recalled.

A visitation for O’Leary will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. on Monday at Cumberland Chapels, 8300 W. Lawrence Ave., followed by a funeral service at 10 a.m. on Tuesday at St. Eugene Parish, 7958 W. Foster Ave.

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