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Dorchester Woman Remembers Fallen Firefighter As Her 'Guardian Angel'

BOSTON (CBS) – Lt. Ed Walsh was a father, husband, friend and brother to so many firefighters from all over.

But for one Dorchester woman, he was her guardian angel and though their encounter was brief outside the Boylston Street firehouse, she says it's something she will never forget.

"He was really one of God's people, one of the earthly angels," Gwendolyn Collins recalled.

Gwendolyn Collins
Gwendolyn Collins of Dorchester (WBZ-TV)

Collins, 63, says she was touched by this firefighting angel three years ago while walking down Boylston Street by the Engine 33 firehouse when she began to feel faint.

That's where she met Walsh for the first time when he came to her aid.

He took her pulse and gave her something to drink but instead of sending her on her way, he stayed right by her side.

"He walked me down, I guess about a block, just to make sure that I really was OK," Collins remembered. "He did not see color he saw you. He looked at you. He looked in your eyes."

Collins said she is devastated over the loss of both firefighters -- Walsh a father of three children and and Michael Kennedy a Marine Corps veteran who'd been a firefighter for six years.

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