| Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc. |
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FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013
Website is updated every other Friday during July and August.
Important interim updates will be posted when necessary..
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| CLICK to go to HGSRA webpage |
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2013 Summer Website Schedule: The next regular HFRA website update will be Friday, August 9th.
As always, important interim announcements will be posted immediately above the masthead.
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Financial Experts Urge Approval of
Pension Obligation Bonds as Part of Pension Fix
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Many active and retired fire and police personnel were among the 100+ people who attended an informational meeting of the Hamden Legislative Council last Wednesday evening. During the two-hour meeting, a five-member panel of financial experts hired by the Town provided detailed answers to Council members' questions concerning Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs), and urged the Council to approve POBs as part of a multi-faceted strategy to fix Hamden's pension fund, which now is at 14% of full funding.
Town bond counsel, David M. Panico, and other members of the panel emphasized that, while there are always risks in POBs, further delays in approving them, or not acting at all, would result in much harsher consequences for Hamden taxpayers and the pension fund. Click on the link below to read a New Haven Register account of the meeting.
The Council is expected to meet this coming Monday evening at 7 to vote on the measure. When known, the location of Monday's meeting will be posted on this website.
Posted 7/26/13
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MARCH 1993
Gas Explosion at 84 First Street
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| New Haven Register, March 19, 1993 - 84 First Street (Article courtesy of Doug Yocher) - CLICK to enlarge for easier reading |
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| The Vision Appraisal photo above shows how 84 First Street was rebuilt after the fire |
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60 Years Ago
Saturday, July 25, 1953 - The Quarry Claims Another Victim
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| From The Hamden Chronicle, Thursday, July 30, 1953 (Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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| June 1982 - Firefighter/Paramedic Tom Conway is shown dusting off Rescue 1, built on a 1979 Chevrolet chassis (Photo by John Tramontano) |
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Department members who completed American Red Cross first aid training in the 1950s and 60s proudly wore the certification patch on the lefthand sleeve of their dress blues. When department members became Emergency Medical Technicians starting in 1971, the EMT certification patch was worn on the work shirt just below the righthand breast pocket. The now familiar shoulder patch and various certification rockers were introduced in the 1980s.
Posted 7/26/13
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| American Red Cross patch was worn on the left sleeve of the dress blues as seen in the photo below |
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| 1970s-80s EMT patch was worn on the work shirt just below the RH breast pocket |
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| 1968 |
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| 1977 |
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| Photo courtesy of Bob Mordecai |
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September 1992 - Four members of Local 2687 attended the IAFF US-Canada Golf Tournament in Richmond, Indiana. (L-R): Bob Mordecai, Ron Desroches, Charlie Esposito, and Jim Hagerty.
Posted 7/26/13
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR FALL 2013
Have fun while making a difference. Experience Corps needs people age 50+ to tutor literacy in Hamden and New Haven elementary schools 10+ hours a week starting in October. Training is provided. Volunteers also participate in fun community events to encourage reading. A small stipend and college tuition/loan help for a child or grandchild provided. You must have a high school diploma or GED and be able to pass a background check via fingerprints. Interested? Call Sheila at 203-752-3059 x2900 or email volunteer@aoascc.org
Experience Corps - Greater New Haven is a program of the Agency on Aging of South Central Connecticut and a proud member of the National Service Network. For more information, please visit www.experiencecorps.org
Contact information:
Sheila Greenstein, AARP Experience Corps Program Manager
Agency on Aging of South Central CT
1 Long Wharf Drive
New Haven, CT 06511
Fax: 203-752-0048
Re-posted 7/26/13
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HFRA “SUMMER” MEETING
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Our 19th meeting was held earlier this week at the Hamden Elks Lodge, with 16 members attending. Members voted final approval to two by-law changes. Annual dues are increased by $3 and future quarterly meetings will be held during the same months, but on either the 2nd Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday on a rotating basis. Minutes of the meeting are posted on the Members Only pages.
Bob Mordecai took these photos of the gathering (CLICK to enlarge).
Posted 7/12/13
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| Refreshments before the meeting |
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| Gil Spencer, John O'Hare and Ed Doiron |
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| John O'Hare, Kerry Castracane, Chick Manware, Tom Doherty and Harold Mangler |
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| Harold, Rich Maybury, Jim Leddy, Mark Pratt, Augie Williams, Dennis Baker and Brian Forsyth |
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| Mark, Augie, Dennis, Brian, Ed Doiron, Gil Spencer and Joe Yoga |
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| Dave and Joe after the meeting. Following his retirement, Joe was a dispatcher for the Cheshire PD for 25 years. |
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Summertime 45 Years Ago
HFD Provided the Foam
The Hamden Fire Department was always ready to combine training with giving the kids a good time during hot summer weather. This photo, taken on June 30, 1968 by I.A. Sneiderman, shows an unidentified Hamden firefighter spreading high expansion foam on Rochford Field for the kids to play in. The foam and the applicator were stored on the ladder truck. In the background are the Mill Rock Apartments, which suffered extensive damage 24 years ago this week when an F4 tornado struck parts of Highwood, Whitneyville and Newhallville.
Posted 7/12/13
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| Photo by I.A. Sneiderman |
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Hamden's Newest Department Member
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| The Hamden Fire Department welcomes its newest firefighter/paramedic. CLICK on photo to read story on Hamden Patch. (Photo by Kathleen Ramunni) |
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| The Hamden Chronicle, July 3, 1947 (Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society) |
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| New Haven Register, July 16, 1971 (Courtesy of Gil Spencer) |
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This 1946 Maxim pumper from New Britain was the first apparatus to occupy a bay in a Hamden fire station. How did THAT happen?
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| This Maxim factory photo is courtesy of Chan Brainard |
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This Maxim pumper, delivered new in 1946 to the New Britain Fire Department, was the very first fire apparatus to occupy a bay in a Hamden fire station. Any ideas? For the answer, click on the photo.
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2013 Summer Website Schedule: The next regular HFRA website update will be Friday, July 26th.
As always, important interim announcements will be posted immediately above the masthead.
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To Our Website Visitors
This year the HFRA website will be on an abbreviated summer schedule. During July and August the website will be updated bi-weekly on the second and fourth Fridays - July 12, 26, August 9 and 23. Regular weekly website updates will resume on September 6th. As always, important interim announcements will be posted immediately above the masthead.
Revised 6/21/13
| HFRA Summer Meeting
Tuesday July 9th, 1 p.m.
Hamden Elks' Lodge, 175 School Street
Menu: Roasted Chicken Caesar Salad - $5.00
All you can eat - All welcome
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Please keep Prescott, AZ firefighters and their families in your thoughts and prayers.
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75 Years Ago!
Ladder Training on Putnam Avenue
It was quite an event for the locals, especially the kids, when the Hamden Fire Department conducted ground ladder training at the Whitneyville fire station in the summer of 1938. There were about 18 paid firefighters on the department at the time. The only department officers were the volunteer fire chief, Charles Loller, and the three volunteer assistant chiefs, Raymond C. Spencer, August Ball and Thayer Jones, all appointed by the Board of Fire Commissioners, and the volunteer captains and lieutenants elected by the individual fire companies. The Town appointed career officers from among the paid men four years later in April 1942.
Photos of this training session were provided to the HFRA by the late G. Donald Steele, an avid fire buff and longtime member of Co. 5, who was in his late teens at the time. Decades later, Don was one of the original state employees with the Connecticut Commission on Fire Prevention and Control who helped to establish various certification criteria back in the early 1970s.
Posted 6/28/13
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| CLICK to enlarge |
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Asst. Chief August Ball directed firefighters raising a 40-foot extension ladder, complete with tormentors. The department had such ladders in 50-foot lengths as well. Once the department acquired its first aerial ladder truck in 1958, extension ladders with tormentor poles were used almost exclusively for training.
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| Adults and kids alike lined Putnam Avenue to watch the activities as the cameraman faced west. The back end of the brand new 1938 Seagrave 600 GPM canopy-cab pumper can be seen in the background. |
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The Whitneyville fire station was built in 1927, replacing the wood frame structure that was given to Whitneyville Co. 3 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. in the early 19-teens. Co. 3 sold the building to the Town in 1949. It was closed in September 1970 when "new" Station 3 was opened at the corner of Ridge Road and Hartford Tpke.
The former Whitneyville Fire Station Today
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| Old Station 3 - May 2013 |
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| Photo Evoked Childhood Memories With a
Dual HFD Connection
Several weeks ago following the passing of Ricky Kenyon, we posted this December 1969 photo showing Ricky and fellow rookie Bob Chadwick training on Welton Street. Within a few days the website received an email from Lieut. Jeff Pechmann, who wrote:
"As soon as I saw the picture of Ricky Kenyon and Bob Chadwick training I knew where it was even though I was only 6 months old when the photo was taken. The white cape in the immediate background is my grandparents' house. My grandfather (Richie Lostritto's brother) built that house and lived in it most of his adult life. I spent countless hours playing in that field before the houses that are now there were built."
Richie Lostritto, Jeff's great uncle and an active HFRA member, was the department's Supt. of Alarms and Apparatus from 1968 until his retirement in 1985. Thank you, Jeff, for sharing your story.
Posted 6/28/13
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| Ff. Harold Prescher at Station 3 in 1995. Harold was the originator of the first HFD map book. |
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Hamden Fire Department Officer and Driver Roster - 1927-28
From the City Directory
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| Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society |
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| c. 1988 - Station 2 - L-R: Ff. Gary Couture, Lt. Dennis Baker, Ff. Jay Connolly, FF. Bill Davin, and Capt. Mike Ambriscoe. Ffs. Dick Carney and Tim O'Flynn are partially visible right behind Connolly and Ambriscoe. (Courtesy of Dennis Baker) |
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60 Years Ago!
Sixty years ago this week this truck was headed up Ives Street with a load of cutlery from the Fleming Company. It didn't make it. The building in the background, located at the corner of Whitney Avenue, presently houses the Mt. Carmel Wine and Spirit Shoppe. The Mt. Carmel Volunteer Fire Co. was first quartered in a rear wing of that building - now demolished - until the present station was completed in 1926. The Fleming Company, located at Ives and Broadway, burned down 15 years later.
Posted 6/28/13
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| The Hamden Chronicle - Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society |
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| CLICK HERE to view more photos and newspaper accounts. |
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| Rite Box Co.
2317 Whitney Avenue
Thursday, June 20, 1963
Rite Box, a Hamden company that manufactured cardboard boxes, was located off the east side of Whitney Avenue, south of Dixwell Avenue, in a complex that housed several other manufacturing concerns. The fire got started in the warehouse portion of the building. The alarm came in at 6:48 in the evening and a second alarm was sounded at 7.
The building was located approximately where Hamden Center One is located now. The company eventually moved to Sherman Avenue.
Click on the photo at left to view newspaper accounts and more photos of the fire.
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This 1965 aerial view confirms that lots of changes have occurred in Centerville since the 1960s. The Hamden Center high rises and a parking garage now stand where Rite Box (#2317 Whitney Avenue) and many other businesses were located years ago.
Posted 6/21/13
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| 1965 aerial view of Centerville - East side of Whitney Avenue, south of Dixwell. Nos. 2305 and 2313 are still standing. Nos. 2311, 2315 and 2317 and the other buildings near them were razed in the early-1980s to make way for the two Hamden Center buildings and a parking garage. CLICK to enlarge. |
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| June 20, 1963 - Photo by Bill Brainard, courtesy of Chan Brainard |
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Rite Box, June 20, 1963 - Firefighters Burt Hillocks (foreground) and Dave Howe overhauling with booster lines. Dave served from January 2, 1948 until his retirement 29 years ago this week. He passed away in 1989. Burt served from September 11, 1950 until he retired in February 1981 at the rank of captain. Burt passed away last September at the age of 91.
Posted 6/21/13
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184 Greenway Street
March 17, 1964
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| Chief V. Paul Leddy and Dep. Chief James Strain (Old Platoon 3) inspect aftermath of house fire at 184 Greenway Street to determine cause. (Photo from HFRA archives - photographer unknown) |
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Ancient communications hardware from Station 5
donated to the Connecticut Fire Museum in Manchester
(No, it's not the Gamewell tape register.)
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Career firefighters Jack Laffin and Fred Fletcher pose with three Co. 5 volunteers in this 1953 photo taken at Station 5. On the shelf above the Gamewell tape register sits a very modern desk telephone for 1953, a Western Electric Model 500 (still manufactured until the 1980s). However, on the wall right above (see arrow) is an ancient Western Electric 295 walnut subscriber set (AKA "bell box") with exposed gongs, which was once connected to a Western Electric 51AL desk stand (AKA "candlestick" telephone).
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| (Photo courtesy of Gilbert Spencer) |
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The old bell box was removed in the early 1970s during a repaint of the apparatus floor and fully restored years later. In 2002, the same walnut bell box that hung on the wall of Station 5 in that 1953 photo was donated to the Connecticut Fire Museum in Manchester along with the same type of candlestick telephone that was connected to it before the more modern phone was installed. The old telephone and bell box still work perfectly.
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| Fully restored bell box from Station 5, with candlestick phone, donated to the Connecticut Fire Museum in 2002. |
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Tracy Ann Tramontano
It is with deep regret that we announce the passing on June 16th of Tracy Ann Tramontano, wife of former fire chief and brother retiree, John Tramontano.
Calling hours will be held Saturday, June 22nd from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the William F. Smart Sr. Memorial Home, Franklin-Tilton Road in Tilton, NH. A committal service will be held Monday, June 24th at 11:00 a.m. at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery, 110 D. W. Highway in Boscawen, NH. Those wishing may make memorial contributions in Tracy’s name to the Hawk Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, Laconia Airport, 65 Aviation Drive, Gilford, NH 03249.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Chief Tramontano and his family:
CLICK HERE: View Obituary for Tracy Ann Tramontano
Posted 6/18/13
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June 14, 2013 - The week marks the fourth anniversary of the Hamden Fire Retirees' Association's website. Thanks to the generous contributions of photos and stories from dozens of HFD retirees and other fans of the website, we have published hundreds of photographs and scores of articles about past and present members of the Hamden Fire Department. We are always looking for more photos and articles about life in the HFD.
We are staying connected and preserving our past.
Posted 6/14/13
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IMPORTANT!
Two members of the HFRA and HGSRA contacted the website regarding this column by David Walker, published recently in USA TODAY. Please read:
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Hamden and North Haven considering
consolidation of emergency dispatch centers.
Is "Regionalization" in the future?
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| 1963 - Ff. Wilbur Baker, Chief Dispatcher |
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| 1982 - Disp. Marge Gambardella Yacano |
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| 2012 - Disp. #317 Brian Esposito |
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June 13, 1939 - New Pumper
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| June 13, 1939 - (L-R) Commissioner Albert Ruwet, Commissioner Thomas Miller and Chief Charles Loller. (Photo by I.A. Sneiderman from HFRA Archives) |
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74 years ago this week the Department accepted delivery of a 500 g.p.m. pumper built on a Diamond-T chassis by the Woods Engineering Service of Topsfield, Massachusetts. The pumper was placed in service at Headquarters and remained there until it was replaced by the 1954 Maxim that was purchased with the help of a grant from Civil Defense.
This was the second of five Diamond-Ts that served the Department. Earlier the previous year, Hamden accepted delivery of the 1938 Diamond-T Emergency Squad.
After 1954, the 1939 Diamond-T served as Engine 6 and Engine 7 before being sold in 1977 to a private buyer.
Posted 6/14/13
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The nose of the 1939 Diamond-T can been seen at the far left in the October 1965 photo below. Hamden school kids gathered at the old Stop & Shop parking lot adjacent to St. Ann's Church during the annual Fire Prevention Week display of fire apparatus. With the recent delivery of the 1965 Mack, and the resulting shuffling of apparatus, the '39 Diamond-T had just been assigned to Volunteer Co. 7.
Fire personnel, left to right, are Lt. William Hines, Dep. Chief Everett Doherty, Lt. Daniel O'Connell, Chief V. Paul Leddy and Dep. Chief Training Officer Daniel Hume. In the background, between Lt. O'Connell and Chief Leddy, is a very youthful Jim Wetmore of Volunteer Co. 7 beside their 1935 Dodge.
Posted 6/14/13
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| (Photo by I.A. Sneiderman from HFRA archives) |
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Standing (L-R) Asst. Chief August Ball, Asst. Chief Thayer Jones, Asst. Chief Raymond C. Spencer, and an unidentified member. Seated (L-R) Commissioner Thomas Miller, Commissioner James Gillies, Commissioner Albert Ruwet, Chief Charles Loller, Asst. Fire Marshal Thomas Pender.
Posted 6/14/13
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| June 15th 1978 - Couldn't resist reposting this photo taken by a bored firefighter sitting watch 35 years ago. |
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HFRA Honorary Member Lucyann Roth
It is with deep regret that we announce the passing on June 9th of honorary HFRA member Lucyann Roth, widow of our brother retiree, Vincent Roth, who passed away in 2007. A mass of Christian burial was celebrated in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church on Thursday, June 13th at 10:00 a.m. Interment followed in All Saints Cemetery.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Lucyann's family:
CLICK HERE: View Lucyann Roth's Obituary by New Haven Register
Revised 6/13/13
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| CLICK HERE TO ACCESS ALL WEEKLY HOMEPAGE UPDATES |
The HOME page contains postings from the past FOUR weeks only.
All previous weekly updates, from Aprilo 1, 2022 on, may be viewed by going
to the menu tab "Home Archived"
Articles about fires and other major incidents can be retrieved from the "Action" tab.
Other articles may be retrieved by going to the "Past Articles" tab.
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| CLICK here to visit the official website of the Hamden Professional Firefighters, Local 2687, I.A.F.F. |
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NEVER FORGET!
We will always remember our brother firefighters who made the supreme sacrifice, and the thousands of other innocent victims who lost their lives eleven years ago on September 11, 2001.
Always keep them, their families and the FDNY in your thoughts and prayers.
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