Well once again a few hearty souls got up early and ventured up north to Hudson to the Firemen's Home. Tom Pelligrino was at the wheel of the Department bus (240-B) and I had the honor of being the navigator once more. It was a beautiful fall day and as we headed up Taconic State Parkway thru Duchess and Columbia Counties , it was noted that the leaves were starting to change colors already. We arrived at the Home and first visited with former Department member Carman “Duke” Ferrante . He had just celebrated his 76 th . Birthday and was glad to see us. “Duke” was the Captain of the OFD Band when it took many a first places during the parade season. “Duke” is in the nursing home portion of the Home, but seems to be improving since the last time we visited with him.
Then we met up with our former Company member, Bob Preudhomme , and we all went over to the museum for awhile. It was a first visit for Doug Tyers and Henry Emilio so we took our time, took pictures and Bob gave us a bunch of antidotal stories about some of the apparatus and other memorabilia housed in the museum. Then it was time for us to get back on the bus, with Bob, and headed over the river to Schoharie to visit with another member, Ex-Captain Phil Metzger and his wife Pam. It's about an hour ride to Phil's, but an enjoyable one. When Phil retired and moved upstate, he bought a 15 + acre farm overlooking the Schoharie River and Catskill Mountains and raises chickens, goats and pigs. (Not bad for a guy who grew up in Oceanside ). He also joined the Schoharie FD, but I don't know how many calls he caught. After a great meal that Pam made for us, we took a tour of the farm and watched Tom Cesiro try to catch a chicken or two. (Phil lets them run all over his place) Tom never was able to catch any, but the goats sure did like to nuzzle up to a few of the guys. We took a bunch of pictures and if we ever figure how to print them on the web page, I'm sure you'll all see the good time we had. Well it took another hour to get Bob back to Hudson and the Home and then we headed back to Oceanside , but not before we stopped off for our ice cream snack. Looks like we'll be heading back up to visit with Bob and Phil again sometime in May and each time we add a few more members to the trip.
At the October Company meeting we took in another new member, Matt Lewis. Matt is another graduate from our Explorer Post and we're happy he decided to join. In addition, the Company passed new Company by-law permitting members of the Explorer Post to be able to join the Company after only one reading of their application instead of the usual two readings. A nominating committee was appointed to screen candidates for Company officers as elections are coming up in December. Also in December are the Department elections and we're all rooting that our candidate Ex-Captain Pat Madden will get the most votes and move up to 3 rd . Assistant Chief.
Training at the County fire academy is in full swing and we're out there every Tuesday and Wednesday for this month. Along with that, the Department's semi-annual SCBA testing is starting October 17 th . For all those that need it to keep the structural firefighter classification.
I get a bunch of e-mails from Ex-Captain Ron Deardoff who's living in Las Vegas now. Ron sure misses us all, so those that have computers, drop Ron an e-mail from time to time. That goes for Ex-Chief Bob “Rube” Pfirmann too. Their e-mail addresses are Excapron@cox.net for Ron and Rcpfirman@aol.com for Rube.
Well that's it for this month.
So until next time... Remember… Stay Well and Stay Safe.
Sincerely,
Ex-Chief Bob Jacoby
OFDChief77@aol.com
Oceanside Hose Company no. 1
49 Evergreen Ave.
Oceanside , NY 11572
(516) 766-9708
