Although her brother died in

the collapse of the World Trade Center weeks ago, Mary Lynch of Peachtree

City takes comfort in knowing he was there doing what he loved to do.

She is also comforted by the

help of friends and neighbors here who baby sat her two daughters, fixed

meals and raised money so she could fly home quickly.

Michael Boyle, 37, had just

gotten off a 24-hour shift as a firefighter in New York City when a fire

call came in for one of the skyscrapers Sept. 11. He was on the phone

with his girlfriend of more than three years at the time, and he told

her, "I'm going to jump on the truck."

Boyle sped away with his fellow

firemen and made it up to the 31st floor before an FBI officer told the

firemen to evacuate the building, Lynch said. Boyle was believed to have

been between the lobby and 10th floors when the building collapsed, according

to a report filed by a lieutenant who managed to escape the collapse alive,

Lynch said.

All seven members of Boyle's

company died, she added.

"It's sad that he had

to go, but that's the way he wanted to go," Lynch said Friday morning.

"That was what he loved, being a fireman."

Lynch's father, who was a New

York firefighter for years himself, went to the scene after witnessing

the first tower collapse and tried to find his son. Later, the family

found Boyle's wallet and keys still in his locker as if he had never left

the station house.

Since that fateful day, Lynch

has made two separate trips to New York once with her two daughters, Amanda

and Diana, and once with her husband, Brendan. She visited the remains

of the building along with family members of other missing firefighters

who responded to the scene.

"It looks like another

country," Lynch said, explaining that the rubble appeared as if it

was from a war zone. "I wanted to do it. I felt the need to get some

closure, or something."

Lynch last saw her brother

about a week before the tragedy. Boyle had a layover at Hartsfield International

Airport on his way to Florida for a vacation. They had breakfast together

before he flew out.

Boyle also had another layover

on his return trip, but he didn't tell his sister until he got on the

plane, reasoning that it was too late at night to meet and it was her

husband's birthday.

"I was so mad at him for

that," Lynch said, admitting that her brother was just being thoughtful.

While Lynch is still coping

with the loss of her brother, she said she is strengthened by her friends

here, who came to her aid in a variety of ways.

The Peachtree City Running

Club raised money to help her fly back home and be with family. A coworker

at Shadows Restaurant, Patty Schweer, helped organize dinners, arrange

for baby-sitters and stopped by often.

"That was really nice

because we don't have family down here," Lynch said. "People

here have been very supportive. I don't know how I could have gotten through

it without them. Everybody has been so great."

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