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John K. Filipowicz, 51, had a hand on the head of his, John C., 20, as if trying to shield the young man from harm, when family found them in the basement of their 72 Fox Beach Ave. home in Oakwood Beach.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They were found together in their basement, locked in a final father-and-son embrace.



John K. Filipowicz, 51, had a hand on the head of his son, John C., 20, as if trying to shield the young man from harm, when family found them in the basement of their 72 Fox Beach Ave. home in Oakwood Beach.



“I went down there in the morning, and the neighbors were trying to get in, they knew he stayed there,” recounted the elder Filipowicz’s brother, Neil. “I brought a good flashlight and I spotted him. I spotted my brother’s hand. “

With the help of a neighbor on nearby Tarlton Street, they recovered both men’s bodies.

Despite early reports from police that the two may have been crushed by debris, Neil Filipowicz said that likely wasn’t the case, as they didn’t have any signs of trauma. Rather, he suspects, they drowned when water came crashing through the wall of their basement.

“They probably went down there to check things out, knowing my brother,” he said. The basement was only about seven feet high, he said, and the storm surge looks to have topped 12 feet. “When that wall gave way, that water must have rushed in like a tidal wave... It came flying in like a tsunami.”

The elder Filipowicz had stayed behind because he didn’t want to abandon his family home, and his son stayed back to watch out for his dad — even though his twin brother, Joseph, suggested he leave.

“I’m not leaving daddy,” John C. said, according to Neil Filipowicz.

Neil recalled his brother as a family man who was devoted to his wife, Christine, his twin sons, John and Joseph, and his daughter, Cali.

“Even the friends were considered family,” Neil said.

He was a graduate of McKee Technical High School, and joined the Marines in 1979, serving in Granada, his brother recalled. In about 1984, he became a city Corrections Department officer, working first on Rikers Island, then in the Manhattan court system. After working for a few years as a union concrete laborer, he took a job with Pioneer, driving a school bus.

“He was my big brother. He was my idol,” said Neil, 46. “He did a lot of things that I admired.” For decades, Neil said, their father had a family tradition of planning an annual Labor Day party, and in 1998, after his death, John felt it his duty to keep the tradition going.

John coached basketball at St. Charles R.C. Parish in Oakwood, and baseball at the Great Kills Little League, both where his sons played, Neil recalled.

The younger Filipowicz had graduated with honors from St. Peter’s Boys High School, New Brighton, and was going to the College of Staten Island. He had taken the FDNY test, Neil said, and was also interested in pursuing a career in nursing.

“He was a smart-witted kid with a smile, but he was also a little shy at times,” Neil said.

The younger John had a passion for sports, recalled cousin Danny McFarland, 20.

“Everything that was athletic,” McFarland said. “He wouldn’t let you sit inside the house, because if you sat inside the house, you were a wimp... Baseball, football, basketball. He was just an all-around athletic guy.”

Neil Filipowicz said he had spoken to his brother on Monday afternoon, before the storm hit. His brother had told him, “I got John here. I’ll be alright.”

Recalled Neil, “That was the last thing we said to each other."