HFRA 6th Memorial Plaque Presentation Honors Five
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Liberty Community Church
540 Washington Avenue, North Haven
(Photos by Dan Johnson)
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Approximately thirty people attended the 48th meeting of the Hamden Fire Retirees Assn. in person last Wednesday, October 13th. Due to the mask mandate still in effect in Hamden, our own Ralph Purificato, pastor of Liberty Community Church in North Haven, generously offered the use of his church hall, where this association held its first three organizational meetings twelve years ago.
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Attendance was somewhat lower than usual due to the relaxed mask protocol. But it was probably much greater than if the meeting were held at a venue where masks had to be worn for well over an hour.
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Zoom was used to "broadcast" the proceedings to distant and homebound members, but due to technical difficulties similar to those experienced at our June meeting the vast majority of Zooming members were unable to get in.
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The meeting and the memorial plaque presentations that followed were recorded in high-resolution video with good audio, and will be posted along with the minutes in the next few days.
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We believe the problem that prevented members on Zoom from "getting in" has been identified and we expect it will be fully fixed before the January meeting.
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Regarding the January meeting, under Old Business the members present and on Zoom voted unanimously to approve a by-law change proposed and voted on favorably at the June meeting to return to four regular meetings a year, basically revising the by-laws to its pre-2019 wording. Regular meetings once again will take place in the second weeks of January, April, July, and October - just like before.
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Association President summarized the current status of the lawsuit that the HGSRA has brought against the Town. The entire meeting lasted just over a half-hour.
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Following adjournment, HFRA Chaplain Rev. Owen Sanderson opened the Memorial Plaque Presentation with a prayer, which was followed by the video of "We Remember, 2021" a seven-minute tribute to every deceased Hamden firefighter who ever served as a career department member, including the pre-1942 volunteer chief officers and "paid drivers." Included, of course, is the only known Hamden firefighter to be killed in the line of duty, Edward Meegan, a Centerville Co. 4 volunteer firefighter, who died in 1927 of injuries he sustained when Engine 4 overturned while responding to what turned out to be a false alarm.
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The program distributed to attendees as well as the photos of the individual presentations are shown below. Light refreshments were served, including a cake featuring the images of the five honorees.
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| * In addition to Paul "Froggy" & Judy Frodel, Jimmy Koutsolopous, Jeff Pechmann, and Tom Doherty, it was especially nice to see Dick and Pat Carney. |
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Memorial Plaque Presentation
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| Rev. Sanderson opened our 6th memorial plaque presentation with a prayer.
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| * The memorial plaque presentation began with the 7 minute video honoring the memories of all deceased career firefighters, as well as pre-1942 chief officers and "paid drivers." (Available below on YouTube)
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Program Page Images (in order) - CLICK to enlarge
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Our last memorial plaque presentation was two years ago. All five members who were honored last Wednesday would have been honored last year, but an in-person presentation last October would have been impossible due to the pandemic. Fortunately, we have lost no members since August 2020.
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Firefighter Joe Rahl's son William Rahl accepted his father's memorial plaque from HFRA Secretary and Historian Dave Johnson, who noted, "Joe was an excellent and respected firefighter who was among the over thirty career firefighters whose fire service careers got started at the Mt. Carmel Volunteer Fire Co. Joe joined the career department in 1956 and served until late 1989. Joe had been a regular attendee at HFRA meetings until a few years ago."
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Peter Laffin accepted his father's memorial plaque from Johnson, who praised Batt. Chief Jack Laffin as a "lovely man and a great boss whom everyone loved and respected." He noted the fact that Jack Laffin was appointed in October 1949 and served until the last day of the month that he turned 65, which was December of 1989. The final shift of Jack's career was the 14-hour night shift on December 31st, which concluded at 8 a.m. on January 1, 1990. Thus, B/C Jack Laffin had served in six consecutive decades, a feat not likely to ever be repeated.
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HFRA President Bob Mordecai prosented Helen McDermott with the memorial plaque honoring her husband, Joseph McDermott, who was appointed in 1953. During the next twenty years, Joe earned civil service promotions up to the rank of Deputy Chief, the title of shift commanders at the time.
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Mordecai told the gathering that he was on McDermott's Platoon 2 from the day he was assigned as a recruit firefighter. When he made lieutenant 1984, he expected to be reassigned to a different platoon as was customary. However, as a new officer, Mordecai remained on Platoon 2. About a year later while riding with him in Car 3, Chief McDermott told him, "I want you to know, Bob, that I am proud that you are one of my officers," a memory of Joe McDermott that Mordecai would always remember and cherish.
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Firefighter/Paramedic Harold Prescher came on the job in 1981 with seven other recruit firefighters. With less than six months on the job, Harold decided to assemble a comprehensive map book of Hamden streets and hydrants. The training officer at the time, D/C John Tramontano, had a copy of Harold's map book placed in every piece of apparatus and staff car. When Central Communications opened in November 1981, the fire department's dispatch protocol was modified to include the map numbers of all streets in the responses, a practice that remains in effect today.
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| * "The Map Book" |
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In presenting Harold's memorial plaque to his son, Dustin, Johnson noted that the map book undoubtedly contributed to making the job safer and more efficient. He also noted that Harold's irrepressible and infectious sense of humor made him a joy to work with. "In later years, when faced with that horrible multiple sclerosis diagnosis, Harold handled it with grace and dignity and we all loved him all the more for it."
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| * November 29, 1999 - Gathering at 9s to observe Ray's last day on the job. L-R: B/C Jim Leddy, Ffs. John Bellmore, Tom Conway, Ramelli, Lt. Jack Mordecai; Seated: Ffs. Bob Macauley and Charlie Cargan. (Bob Mordecai photo) |
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Of the five honorees, Ray Ramelli had retired most recently, at the end of November 1999. Because Ray's widow, Christina, was unable to attend the presentation, Bob Mordecai and Dave Johnson presented Ray's memorial plaque to her the next day at her home. Johnson had noted at the Wednesday afternoon presentation that Ray was loved and respected by all who knew and worked with him, and that he was a contributing member of this Association. He will be missed.
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Our Newest Honorary Members
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A precedent of sorts was set with this year's memorial plaque presentations, that of conferring HFRA Honorary Membership to relatives other than surviving widows.
In addition to Helen McDermott and Christina Ramelli, whose certificate is shown at right, Honorary Membership was conferred on Jack Laffin's son Peter, Joe Rahl's son Bill, and Harold Prescher's son Dustin.
Honorary Members are welcome to attend meetings and other gatherings, but they do not pay dues, vote, or hold office. To keep them in the loop, they also receive all notifications sent to regular members.
There is one additional new Honorary Member, a terrific guy, who will be remembered by those of us who worked at 3s in the late 1970s and early 80s. Scroll down . . .
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| Honorary Member Bill Rahl |
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| Honorary Member Helen McDermott |
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| Honorary Member Peter Laffin |
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| Honorary Member Dustin Prescher |
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| Candid shot caught by the photog. |
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If you worked at 3s in the late 70s and early 80s, there was a great neighborhood kid who used to hang out with us, sometimes running errands for us and being a part of our informal Station 3 "family." One of the legacies of this kid's association with Station 3 personnel was getting to know Captain, later B/C Jack Laffin, whose daughter Ann he married in the 1990s. Yeah, guys, this is our old friend Gerry "Fritz" Keniry, who also attended last Wednesday's plaque presentation.
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Fritz is also now an HFRA Honorary Member, not only because he was Jack's son-in-law, but also because in his youth he was a significant presence Station 3, where many of our HFRA members in their active days benefited from his willingness to assist to us when needed, appreciated his genuine interest in our fire service activities, and enjoyed his terrific sense of humor. Congrats, Fritzy!
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| * Most of this sheet cake, courtesy of the decorating talents of Karna Browning, was devoured by the end of the gathering. |
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