GREENE – The Greene Fire Department Annual banquet was held at Baron’s Inn Saturday, April 19. Thirteen members were presented service pins by First Assistant Chief Dan Montgomery and Village of Greene Mayor Marcia Miller. Service in various five year increments ranged from 10 to 30 years, with a combined total of 185 years service. Most notably Joseph W. Eggleston was recognized for his 25th year and Tom Fey for his 30th year.
New Officers were introduced with Chief Rick Woerter returning and Chief Scott Hubbard retiring from that position. Recently the department changed the way we structure our officers and the new President is Clifford Jones. The rest of the top officers are First Assistant Chief Dan Montgomery, Second Assistant Chief Jeremy Tennant, and Third Assistant Chief Duane Pierce. The third assistant replaces the captain as a line officer in the top of command.
A moment of silence was held for honorary members that had passed away this year, Herbert Deabler, a past chief of the department and FFOTY in 1981 and Willard “Murph” Harrington. Sixteen honorary members joined us for dinner and the awards.
Near the end of the evening all of the previous men and women that had been recognized as Firefighter of the Year were called up to the stage as the 2008 firefighter of the year was announced. This year mark the completion of a plaque with names that started in 1969. Seventeen of the 34 recipients were in attendance.
Tom Fey was honored as the 2008 Greene Fire Department Firefighter of the Year. Tom was recognized for his thirty year commitment to the department and the community. Tom is a very active member attending over 25% of calls annually despite working out of town as a supervisor at Barney and Dickerson Inc. in Vestal, and has a high attendance percentage at meetings, department drills and apparatus sessions. Tom is very active in the Greene Fire Police and will often spend dawn to dusk at community events such as the Labor Day Picnic, Applefest, and Craft Fair directing traffic. He has held several offices including three times as second assistant chief in charge of apparatus and two years as fire police captain. Tom has served as a resource through the years in training new drivers, maintaining and repairing apparatus, and always being the calm voice in the heat of an incident. Past Chief and President Cliff Jones recalled to the audience the time that he was driving a tanker down a hill on the way to a fire call with Tom as a passenger. Normally when air brakes fail the “lock up” but not that night! When Cliff asked Tom what to do he remarked calmly something to the effect “Not much you can do, just hold on as we are going for a ride.” Although there were only two seats in that truck there must have been a “third” rider that night, the truck crossed the road at the bottom of the hill and landed upright in a field, both Tom and Cliff were unscathed.
Tom was joined by his father Tom Sr., his son Glen [also a GFD member receiving his 10 year pin], his daughter Nikki and husband Bobby (another GFD member), his grandchildren his sister Nancy and her children and grandchildren.
Submitted by Bernie McDermott