At the May meeting we accepted our newest member into the Company. Welcome on board Matthew (Mayonnaise) Mayo.
The Company had a nice turn out for the Memorial Day parade and the weatherman didn't disappoint us with the sun. For the truck inspection the day before our Company tied with Engine Co. 1 for second place. Hose Co. 3 took 1 st . Pete Chiovitt took a great picture of us and hopefully we'll get it posted on the “picture” section of our web. After the parade we had our annual “ramp” party and those in attendance enjoyed themselves. Maryanne Dawson and Tom Hendel's Mom made the desert, and there weren't any leftovers. It was good and went fast.
In the sad news department, there were two in the line of duty deaths in the county. First Ex-Captain James J. O'Neill from Hose Company 1 of the Hempstead Fire Department suffered a heart attack following a fire in their community then two days later Ex-Chief Peter Lund from my old Department ( Woodmere ) suffered a heart attack while working a fire in his community. Chief Lund was a Retired Lieutenant from FDNY Rescue Company 2 and also a 2 nd Deputy Chief Instructor at the Nassau County Fire Service Academy . I knew Pete quite well going back to when he was just a youngster as I served as Captain of Hose Company 1 in the WFD along side his Dad who was Captain of Hose Company 2 at the same time. I lost track of Pete when I moved over to Oceanside in 1961, but then our paths crossed again when he was appointed as an Instructor at the County Fire Academy . Pete's son is now Captain of my old Company over in Woodmere .
The third death just occurred last night (June 15 th ) The Oceanside Fire Department's oldest living Former Chief and member of our Company, Fred “Mother” Nickees , passed away. Fred was 97 and had 78 years in the Department. Fred was Company Captain back in 1937 and Chief of Department in 1954. Fred used to love to tell us “young” Chiefs “we hadn't made it yet” until we became former Chiefs. Well Fred has finally made it too. I'm sure he's up at the “Big Fire House” in the sky. Fred was an institution in the Department and Company and will be sorely missed.
Some nice news. On Friday, June 3 rd . Ex-Captain Tom Cesiro and his wife Lynn gave birth to their first child, Thomas IV. The baby weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces and was 19 ½ inches long. Baby and Mom are doing well and I'm sure Tom 3 rd has Tom 4 th 's application all ready filled out for our Explorer Post for when he becomes 14. Incidentally Tom IV was born on the birth date of his Great Grandfather, Tom 1 st just 103 years later. Dad was passing out cigars (chocolate) at our June meeting.
Ex-Captain Ron Deardoff and wife Midge went east for their grand daughter's 16 th Birthday. Midge arrived a few days before Ron and was able to attend our Memorial Day “ramp” party, and Ron came in Wednesday. Unfortunately, he was stuck on the plane and missed us “old timers” sitting around the eight sided table. Ron did make the Company meeting and got right back in the swing of things around the grill. Ron used to be our “1st. spoon” before leaving for Vegas.
Ex-Captain Bob Dawson A.K.A. Sea Dog, who retired as a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy (Reserves) has changed branches. He is now a Private in Company H, 119 th . N.Y. Volunteers. That's a Civil War outfit that came from Long Island back over 140 years ago and participate in Civil War musters. Looks like Bob changed his Navy Blue's for Army blues.
Congratulations are in order for our “Web Master” Anthony Martini who is now an EMT-B. Pretty soon we'll have as many “medics” in our Company as Rescue Company does. Now that an Engine responds on rescue calls during evening and weekends, it's nice to know we have a crew that can handle the “9s”.
A couple of parades coming up in June. Saturday, June 18, the Department will be going to South Hempstead to help them celebrate their 100 th . Anniversary. Our own Company member, Former Chief John Traverso used to be a member over there and rose to the rank of Assistant Chief before moving over to Oceanside . Then on Saturday, June 25 th the Department will be going to Lynbrook to participate in their 4 th Bn . Parade.
Received an e-mail from Former Chief Bob “Rube” Pfirmann . He hopes to be in town for a couple of days in June and will be marching with us in the Nassau County Firemen's Association Parade.
Company is planning another trip up to the Firemen's Home in Hudson in early summer. We'll be visiting with Bob Preudhomme and most probably take him over to Schoharie and visit with Ex-Captain Phil (Farmer) Metzger and his wife Pam. When we went up there this past fall we all had a great time and Pam put on a nice spread for us.
That's all for this month, so until my next… Stay Well and Stay Safe and remember…
“When you train, train like your life depends on it , because it just might”.
Sincerely,
Ex-Chief Bob Jacoby
OFDChief77@aol.com
Oceanside Hose Company no. 1
49 Evergreen Ave.
Oceanside , NY 11572
(516) 766-9708
