LIVINGSTON MANOR — Ask anyone who was fortunate enough to know him and they'll inevitably tell you the same thing. Christopher Pekny, 28, was larger than life in just about every way imaginable. An imposing figure standing 6'5” and weighing 250 lbs., those who knew him best say his large stature was matched only by the size and depth of his heart.

Chris and his partner Jennifer Edwards were expecting to celebrate the upcoming birth of their first child. Last Sunday morning, February 21, Chris was working on a device that would reveal their baby's gender at a party with friends and family later that day. Shortly before noon, according to New York State Police, that device exploded, killing Christopher and severely injuring his younger brother, Michael.

Since then, the Manor community and beyond has offered an outpouring of support as the Pekny family mourns an unimaginable loss.

Chris worked at Liberty Concrete and Construction where he was affectionately known as “Frankenstein” on account of his large frame and incredible strength. When not at Liberty Concrete, Chris worked at the Robin Hood Diner in Livingston Manor—a community landmark that the Pekny family has owned and operated since the early 80s.

“I was really proud of Chris,” said oldest brother Pete Pekny Jr. “He had his ups and his downs but he was really looking forward to being a father.”

He spoke on Wednesday outside the Robin Hood Diner where a memorial of candles, flowers and small momentos was growing.

Pete Jr. focused on the good memories of Chris and the long road ahead for Michael's recovery.

Man of talent and humor

“I'm a shop teacher, but I'm not the tech guru of the family,” Pete Jr. said. “Chris and Mike know so much more - whether it's pouring concrete, building engines, taking apart motors, diesel mechanics, electricity, construction … [Chris] was just so smart, full of life and full of personality.”

Chris had a sharp mind for mechanics. It came naturally to him and he loved doing it. Often referring to himself as a “certified parts changer,” he loved working on old cars, tractors, pickup trucks and diesel motors.

“These are what Chris liked working on,” Pete Jr. said upon sliding open a metal door to a garage filled with a collection of cars. He liked Fords and Chevrolets, as evident by the 1963 Ford Galaxie and a Chevy El Camino. Chris always wanted a 1968 Ford Mustang and he had a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle.

An athlete during his time at Liberty High School, Chris was a force to be reckoned with on the football field. His brother recalled one occasion where Chris went running down the field after a kickoff and made such a hard tackle he broke the helmet of the opposing player.

“He was 6'5” before he put his work boots on,” Pete Jr. said with a laugh. “I've watched him pick up entire engines, with the transmission attached too, because they were in his way. The diner is from 1955 and built with different people's proportions in mind. [Chris] used to have to scrunch his shoulders in and duck down to get through the doorway.”

Chris had a mischievous, but good-natured smile, that hinted at his sense of humor he inherited from their Grandmother Klara.

Pete Jr. showed a photo of his brothers and him standing at the end of a dock on Hunter Lake in Parksville, Chris with a sly grin on his face. Immediately after the photo was taken, Chris shoved Pete Jr. into the lake.

“That water was cold,” he said with a laugh.

Willing to help

anyone

Pete Jr. works as a technology teacher at S.S. Seward Institute in Florida, NY. He recalled one time when he was on his way back from a conference of the New York State Technology and Engineering Educators Association in Oswego.

Driving along late at night, a tractor trailer drifted over into Pete's lane causing him to crash into the back of it with his Jeep before going off the road and into a ditch.

No sooner had Chris heard about what happened than he was on the road driving toward his brother.

“Chris got up there in the middle of the night, towed the car home and made sure I was okay,” Pete Jr. said. “That was Chris, and he didn't do it just for me, he would have done it for anybody. And of course Michael was there to help him hook the chains up and put everything together.”

Road to recovery

Pete Jr. said youngest brother Michael is still at Garnet Health Medical Center in Middletown where doctors had removed all the shrapnel from his legs. The explosion shattered his right knee and the doctors are doing everything they can to fix it and get him back on his feet again.

Pete Jr. said his brother will walk again.

“Mike has to recover and he will,” he said. “They fixed his legs. Emotionally, there's no doctor in the world who can fix a broken heart.”

It's hard to exaggerate just how close brothers Chris and Mike were to each other. Just one year and a couple months apart, the two were nearly inseparable.

Pete Jr. said his family is focused now on Michael's recovery, as well as Chris' partner Jen Edwards and helping to raise the child who will grow up without his father.

“There's no replacing Chris, but we're not going to let her do it on her own. I'm going to be an uncle and Mike's going to be an uncle. We'll be right there for her like Chris would've been.”