Graybeards to Honor Joe Courtney and Timmy Klein Foundation

By Katie McFadden

On Saturday, January 31, The Graybeards, a local organization that has done plenty of good for the community, will be honoring a local neighbor and organization that have also done good—Joe Courtney and the Timothy P Klein Memorial Foundation.

On Saturday night, The Graybeards will host their 24th Annual Dinner Dance at El Caribe in Brooklyn. The annual event serves as The Graybeards’ biggest fundraiser of the year with the help of a massive 50/50, resulting in a six-figure prize. As we go to press, all 50/50 tickets are officially sold out and a lucky winner, announced at the event on Saturday, will go home with $300,000. The money raised helps the nonprofit organization that started after 9/11 to quietly do the amazing work they do for individuals, families and other organizations in need such as when neighbors are dealing with tragedies, tough diagnoses, fires and more.

More than 400 people will attend this sold-out fundraiser. Among them will be Stephanie McCormick and her family, last holiday season’s beneficiary for Stockings for a Cause. McCormick, a schoolteacher in Georgia, lost her husband, U.S. Navy Reserve Commander Robert McCormick, to service-related cancer in 2022, leaving her as a single mother of three, including a teen daughter who has been battling leukemia since 2024. The donations collected during Eugene Brennan’s Stockings for a Cause effort will be presented in a check to the family on Saturday.

As part of their annual dinner dance, The Graybeards honor members of the community or organizations that have gone above and beyond. This year the Don (D.H.) Hart Memorial Award will go to Joe Courtney and the Tom Ryan Memorial Award will go to the Timothy P Klein Memorial Foundation.

The Don Hart Memorial Award is given in memory of a Graybeard who was known to always rise to a challenge, no matter how big or small. From assisting those in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, to volunteering for spring spruce ups and other projects, Hart was always at the ready with his tool bag in hand. Hart died in 2008 and today the award is given in his name, to a special community member that also rises to meet any challenge. Courtney is being honored with the D.H. Memorial Award for his “longstanding commitment to volunteerism and his significant contributions to the Rockaway community. For over three decades, Joe has provided support to numerous individuals, particularly during times of significant personal challenge. He has served as a mentor and counselor, guiding many through difficult periods. Frequently, Joe is among the first to be approached by families seeking assistance for members contending with the complexities of substance abuse. On many occasions, he has prioritized the needs of others, consistently responding when help was needed,” a description in the Graybeards Dinner journal reads. For his help, Courtney has even become known as “a champion of the needy.”

Courtney is the son of John and Regina Courtney and grew up in Belle Harbor with his siblings Michael, Matthew, Regina, Christine, and Megan. He went to P.S. 114 and Junior High School before going to Collegiate High School in Manhattan and St. Francis College. Out of college, he worked alongside Jim McVeigh at Time Movers before shifting to pharmaceutical sales.

He and his wife, Loretta, met in high school and will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in May. They have four kids including Maisie, Julia, Hughie, and Lottie. The three Fs are Courtney’s way of life—faith, family, and friendship. He actively serves on the St. Francis De Sales Parish Council and participates in the Graybeards organization. But in his free time, you’ll find him on the courts playing basketball, a sport he excelled in at Collegiate. He uses those skills to coach others through CYO and the SFDS Summer Classic. And most of all, he lives each day with humility, humor, and little desire for recognition, but the Graybeards know he’s deserving.

The Tom Ryan Memorial Award, considered to be a special recognition award, is given in honor of a special Graybeard—Tom Ryan. Known as “the best of the best”, Ryan was a strong mentor to many, giving advice to those who sought it, and actively serving the SFDS parish. This award was named in Tom Ryan’s honor after he passed in 2017 and is usually given to a local organization that strives to better the community. This year, it will go to the organization named in honor of late firefighter Timothy Patrick “TK” Klein. The son of Patrick and Diane, and older brother to Tara, Bridget, and Erin, Klein was born September 17, 1990. He grew up in Rockaway, attending St. Francis De Sales Elementary School, and went on to Archbishop Molloy High School and then York College of Pennsylvania, where he received his bachelor’s degree in sports management.

Klein is remembered for his easy going, quiet but infectious personality, his love of sports, the beach and country music and a strong work ethic. He followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, uncles, cousins and father and joined the FDNY in December 2015. At the Ladder 170 firehouse in Canarsie, he earned the nickname, “The Golden Child” because nobody had anything bad to say about him. Klein was studying for the lieutenant’s test and spent his spare time volunteering for firefighter organizations like Fight for Firefighters, building ramps for those in need, and the Fire Family Transport organization. He always strived to do the right thing. And he died doing what he loved, fighting a fire in Brooklyn on April 24, 2022. He was 31.  The Graybeards journal said, “He was always putting others before himself, making the ultimate sacrifice to save another. He overcame childhood health obstacles and accomplished his dream epitomizing what it means to be a New York City firefighter—humble, kind, selfless, and always there to help. He is missed every day, but his life and legacy live on, which helps us all live each day with a little Timmy in it.”

The Timothy P Klein Memorial Foundation was set up in his name to help support the Fight for Firefighters Foundation so fellow firefighters can continue to build ramps and make other changes in homes of first responders in need so they’re ADA compliant. The TK Foundation reps a TK logo with the motto “Free and Easy,” Klein’s favorite country song. Annual events like the TK Country Fest, Volleyball Tournament and Pig Roast are held to raise funds on behalf of the “man of courage, strength, and selflessness,” so they can continue Klein’s legacy of giving back to others, something that falls in line with the mission of the Graybeards.

For more info about The Graybeards, see: https://thegraybeards.com