Theresa Rakoski's cheerful voice is frozen in time on her answering machine. ''... And, this is Terry,'' she says, accompanying her husband, Richard H. Rakoski, on the recorded message at their Taunton home. Rakoski died in The Station fire along with her sister, Christina DiRienzo, and her friend Kristine Carbone.
The 30-year-old probably would have been planning a belated honeymoon in Niagara Falls now. The trip was delayed because her husband, a US Army Private, was sent to Afghanistan with the Taunton-based 772d National Guard Military Police soon after the couple's June 29 wedding last year.
Rakoski was there the day her husband shipped out and the couple was interviewed by WHDH-TV reporter Jeffrey Derderian, who has since left the Boston television station and is co-owner of The Station.
Theresa Rakoski was born in Wareham, graduated from Wareham High School, and lived in Taunton for the past three years. She was a quality assurance inspector for the Canton-based Copley Control Corp., an electronics manufacturer.
Her mother, Patricia Pina, said Terry was an expert pool player and loved adventure. ''She took me up in a hot air balloon for my birthday last year,'' said Pina, who lost two daughters in one night.
The Rakoskis did not have any children, but Terry's cats - Tigger and Reno - ''were her babies,'' her mother said. ''Everything was for her cats. They just adored her.''
