By CANDICE FERRETTE
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: September 22, 2005)

YONKERS  On a January day in 1989, a 9-year-old boy was brought to Andrus Children's Center. His maternal grandmother, his primary guardian, had died. His mother gave him up for adoption. His father had never been in the picture.

On the day of his admission to the residential treatment center in Yonkers, he stood just over 4 feet tall and weighed 53 pounds. A note from an administrator on that day described him as being "very thin for his age."

That boy, who lived at the Andrus center during his formative years, went on to graduate from White Plains High School, join the Marine Corps and attend Purchase College, SUNY, where he was a popular resident adviser.

He was Spc. Anthony Kalladeen, a member of the Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, "the Fighting 69th," and he was killed fighting in Iraq during the summer.

Yesterday, friends and family remembered Kalladeen on the Andrus campus on North Broadway with a memorial gathering and a tree-planting ceremony. Kalladeen, 26, died Aug. 8 after his vehicle was hit by explosives and then came under fire.

"This tree will embody everything that Anthony was and will inspire all children who come to Andrus," said Lew Janavey, a staff member at the center, who led the group in planting the copper beech tree in a field in front of the large white Colonial administration building.

Those who knew Kalladeen at the center, including administrators, teachers and social workers, described him as a thoughtful, giving person who was always ready to help others.

As a boy, they said, he was quiet, shy and "always fearful about doing things right." He liked swimming and bicycle riding and took the initiative to join a swim team off campus. He earned extra money doing chores around the center as a boy and even started his own bank account with the $5 he had earned, they said. Within a few months, he saved enough money to buy himself a bicycle.

"Even as a little guy, he was always the first in the group to help carry packages, or set up chairs for a function," said Joe Ciffone, dean of students who has worked at Andrus for 32 years and taught shop during Kalladeen's years there.

Kalladeen had met with four adoptive potential families during his time at the center, but none of them worked out. His brother, who was one year older, was adopted by a family from upstate New York. Eventually, in 1993, Kalladeen moved into a group home operated by the Family Service of Westchester. He volunteered with the children at Andrus and worked as a groundskeeper while living there during his summers off from Purchase.

"I just appreciate him for the resilient young man who beat the odds," said Wendolyn Selby, a clinical social worker at the center and a former resident.

Kalladeen maintained regular communication with the center while he was in Iraq, said Sheri Bloom, director of development. While he was in Baghdad, he organized a letter-writing initiative with students in Andrus' Orchard School to lift the spirits of his fellow soldiers. He was due to return from Iraq in October, Bloom said, and he had inquired about returning to work and live at Andrus again.

"They always say that we lose our best and our brightest," said Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone, who was among those who spoke at the ceremony.

"We are never too old to learn from someone like this young man," he added.

Anthony Nelson Kalladeen was born May 30, 1979, in Brooklyn. His maternal grandmother raised him in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn until her death, when Kalladeen was 7. His mother, Maria Vidal, who now lives in Reading, Pa., said she gave Anthony up for adoption because she was unable to care for him at that time in her life when she lived in Yonkers.

His mother reunited with him when he was 17 years old, when he called her just before Thanksgiving that year.

Vidal was at yesterday's service and wept for a while in the front row as one individual after another spoke praises of her son.

"I never expected that this home would do something like this for my son," Vidal said. "To me, he's a hero all the way. I know that he's in a better place now."

Lu Caldara, group leader of the Marine Corps League for Westchester County who had known Kalladeen since he was 13 years old, said he had always considered himself Kalladeen's "surrogate father." Caldara said he had spoken to Kalladeen about three weeks before he was killed, when he had called from Iraq.

"He was upbeat and proud of his mission," Caldara said. "For a person who grew up under those conditions, Anthony was an extraordinary man."