Friends say Garrett Finnerty was a stand-up kid

One day Pierce Finnerty got lots of green paint in his blond hair. His big brother, Garrett, tried to wash it out before their father saw it.

And when their father did find out, Garrett tried to take the blame.

That was pretty typical, said a friend from the neighborhood who played with Garrett.

"Pierce always had permission to follow Garrett around, so Garrett was forced to watch him," said Matthew Dornbos, 10. "But he kind of liked watching him because he didn't want Pierce to get into really big trouble."

Pierce, 6, survived the early Tuesday morning fire that killed Garrett, 11, and their parents, Kevin and Patricia Finnerty. The boys' sister, Bridgit, 12, also survived.

An altar boy and a Boy Scout, Garrett Finnerty was as youthful and wholesome as they come. He and his family attended 11:30 a.m. Mass last Sunday, May 31, at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Arlington Heights, where afterward Garrett was commissioned an altar server.

The youngster was with all of the fifth graders who had trained nearly a year for the role.

Now, some of the more experienced acolytes will serve at the funeral service for Garrett and his parents, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of the Wayside, 434 W. Park St., Arlington Heights. Visitation will be held noon-8 p.m. Monday at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road.

Matthew, one of four boys in the Dornbos family, had adventures with Garrett.

Once, they hatched a plan to make go-karts out of old baby strollers. That didn't work out, said Matthew, so their game became "stroller wars," using the stroller bases more or less like bumper cars.

And Garrett was also good at dueling with sticks, said his friend.

Matthew's mother, Susan Dornbos, says Garrett was a quiet, polite boy. She misses his ready smile.

Garrett liked to make other kids laugh, said Steven Tellano, 10, who was in Garrett's class last year and they stayed friends.

"He only acted funny when he was happy, but he was happy a lot," said Steven.

That Garrett had an instinctive kindness to kids with disabilities was also mentioned by the adults who knew him.

"Garrett had an ability to not see age or disabilities. He was blind to all that; he didn't have any biases," said Jenn Doner, whose son, Joe, was in Garrett's Cub Scout pack.

Kevin Dwyer, the principal of Westgate Elementary School, where Garrett attended, said all three children were reflective of their parents.

"I worked with them over four years," he said. "They were part of our community, active at all PTA events, picking up and dropping off, always there for their children on bikes or in a car."

Westgate is a neighborhood school with little turnover, so the children are together in Scouts and on teams and sometimes in churches, making them close knit.

The fifth-grade dinner, an annual celebration for the students moving up to middle school, was scheduled for Thursday night but has been delayed till next week.

Meanwhile, Dwyer's focus is on the two surviving Finnerty children. Pierce is in kindergarten; Bridgit is at South Middle School.

"I want us to embrace each other with hope and turn our sorrow to action and raise as much money for them as we can," Dwyer said.

The Westgate faculty and staff meet before and after school each day to console and support each other so they can be strong for the students.

"I tell my staff, 'Be honest,'" Dwyer said.

"We really don't have a lot of words we can say," he admitted. "We are in shock. We don't have all the answers, but we love the students and care for them.'"

• Daily Herald staff writer Colleen Thomas and correspondent Eileen O. Daday contributed to this report.