Website updated April 12, 2012
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| Co. 5 Captain Find C.C. Pedersen |
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Former Co. 5 Captain Find C.C. Pedersen
We regret to report that we have received word from Anders Pedersen that his brother, Find, passed away on March 26, 2012 at Andy's home in Maryland after a lengthy illness.
Find C.C. Pedersen, Jr. joined Co. 5 in March 1951 and was Captain from 1959-61 and again from 1962-66. He remained an active member until 1969, when he left Hamden to become a teacher in the Tolland, Connecticut school system. Find joined the Tolland Volunteer Fire Department and soon became president of the association.
Find was a great guy who was an important leader in the company during the 1950s and 60s.
Find was predeceased by his wife, Sandy, in 2006. Our condolences go out to Andy and the rest of Find's family.
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CLICK on above photo for more photos
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| CLICK ON THE PAGE TO ENLARGE IT FOR EASIER READING! |
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| Photo by Russ Loller |
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| Volunteer Co. 5 alumnus, Russ Loller, emailed this photo of Firefighters Bob "Whitey" Williams and Ed Doiron, taken at Station 5, right after Ed was transferred there to replace newly-retired Mario "Bucky" Serafino. (The work shirts are dark blue with no shoulder patches, which dates this photo at around 1973 - early '74 at the latest.) Whitey was either surprised by the camera, or just mugging it up for the photographer.
Whitey was on Platoon 1 and Ed was on Platoon 2. Since there was virtually no OT at the time, this photo was most likely snapped during the change of shift, when the 2nd was coming off nights and the 1st was starting its three days.
Notice the Gamewell telegraph take-up reel at the front of the desk and the fresh roll of ticker tape for the Gamewell tape register in the desk drawer.
On October 6, 1970, Whitey was a member of the first two-man crew assigned to Station 5 on the first day of the new 42-hour workweek. Ff. Frank Kafka was the other member of the crew.
Whitey Williams, as he was known to everyone, was on the department from September 1950 until his retirement in the late 1970s. He passed away on December 5, 1990.
Posted 2/24/12
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| Tom Waite took this photo of Station 5 in January 1955. Scroll down to see Tom's other photos that month of a nasty barn fire in the Dunbar Hill area. |
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Hoffmeister Fire - January 1955
(CLICK on any photo to enlarge)
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January 25, 1955, Hoffmeister Farm on Dunbar Hill Road. Co. 5 alumnus Tom Waite donated these photos at the 11/11/11 Centennial Dinner. He shot them at a fire at the Hoffmeister Farm in early 1955. The pumper operator is Bill Hines. A year later, he was promoted to lieutenant. Bill was still on the job when he passed away in May 1979 after a brief illness.
Thank you, Tom, for these amazing photos!
Posted 2/23/12
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11/11/11 - Our Centennial
A Very Special Occasion
Over
90 people gathered at the Hamden Elks' Lodge on Friday evening,
November 11th, to attend the Centennial Dinner for the Mt. Carmel
Volunteer Fire Co.
Hamden Fire Department Chaplain, Rev. Owen
Sanderson of Christ Lutheran Church, opened the festivities with meal blessing and a
prayer to remember those members who have gone before, making a
special reference to Duane Wetmore, Hamden fire commissioner and past
captain of Co. 7, who passed away on October 11th. Duane's widow,
Sharyn, was among the invited guests, which included Mayor Scott
Jackson, Chief and Mrs. David Berardesca, Deputy Chief and Mrs. Bob
Surprise, former chiefs Paul Wetmore, Sr. and Tim Sullivan, Commissioner
Richard Reilly, and Chief Wetmore's wife, Betty, who is a member of the
Hamden Legislative Council.
A very special guest of the company was Jean Strain, granddaughter of the company's first captain, James H. Strain. Jean's father, James W. Strain, also a past captain of the company, served over 30 years as a career member of the Hamden Fire Department, retiring in 1973 as a Deputy Chief.
Following a fine meal catered by
Zandri's Stillwood Inn, Mayor Jackson spoke about the significant
contributions made by Hamden's volunteer firefighters over the years and
the remarkable longevity of Co. 5 as an active company. He then
presented the members with a handsome Proclamation (pictured below) honoring the fire
company on its 100th anniversary.
Chief Berardesca addressed the
gathering, thanking the company for its invitation and remarking on how
Co. 5 has contributed quite a number of its alumni to the career
department.
Committee Chairman Dave Johnson thanked his fellow committee members for their help in all of the Centennial observances held during this year. Centennial Committee members included Karl and Nancy Olson, Sue and Mark Guarino, Dan Brown, Tom and Emily Corbett, Clark Hurlburt, Gil Spencer and Ed Doiron. Dave noted that Gil Spencer had just completed his 60th year as a member of the company. He also noted that when Ed Doiron was stationed at Mt. Carmel during the early 1970s, Ed encouraged, inspired and instilled an interest in the fire service in many of the company's younger members at the time, several of whom went on to careers in the fire service.
A 12-minute narrated video presentation followed,
chronicling the history of Co. 5 with dozens of vintage photos and some
video clips. DVD copies of the video, produced by the Centennial
Committee, were distributed to those in attendance.
Perhaps the
best part of the program came last: In honor of Veteran's Day, program
emcee Karl Olson asked all those who served in the U.S. military to
stand and be recognized. Karl then introduced his wife, Nancy, who made
very special presentations from Quilts of Valor to three of our World
War II veterans, Bill Bossoli, Joe Rahl and Don Steele.
Prizes
generously donated by Shirley Mangler and Gail Mitchell resulted in a successful
raffle punctuated with a lot of laughs. (The five-horn guys did pretty
well!) We had a great time!
To view some photos from the dinner,
CLICK on the LH photo below. To see the special presentations to our
WWII veterans and read the moving words of Nancy Olson, CLICK on the RH
photo below.
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CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW
TO SEE MORE DINNER PIX
| CLICK ON PHOTO BELOW TO VIEW SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
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| Gil Spencer, Joe Rahl, Bill Farrell, Frank Fowler, and Tom Waite. CLICK on this photo to see more photos of the Co. 5 Centennial Dinner. (Photo courtesy of Frank Fowler) |
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| CLICK on this photo to read about a major highlight of our Centennial Dinner, held on Veteran's Day. |
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| Our 50 year old parade banner temporarily modified for the Centennial Celebration. |
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| Ray Latini (center), flanked by Dave Johnson and Karl Olson at the Sept. 10, 2011 Engine 260 Muster (Photo by Nancy Olson) |
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| FOUND: Former Mt. Carmel Volunteer Fire Co. president
and secretary, Ray Latini!
Ray was attending his first Engine 260
Muster in Milford when he was spotted by Karl Olson. We had been
trying to locate Ray since late last year.
Ray was very active in
company affairs from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s and served as
company secretary and president. He was happy to hear of the Centennial
Celebration and plans to attend the November 11th Centennial Dinner at the Elks.
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| CLICK to view video |
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| Sunday, September 4, 2011
The
north annex of the Mt. Carmel Volunteer Fire Company was officially
dedicated in memory of Raymond K. Spencer. The occasion also marked the
36th anniversary of the original dedication on September 4, 1975.
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| CLICK on the photo to view pix |
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Ten Years Later
We will always
remember our brother firefighters who made the supreme sacrifice, and
the thousands of other innocent victims who lost their lives ten years
ago on September 11, 2001.
Always keep them, their families and the FDNY in your thoughts and prayers.
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Company 5's Member Reunion
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| This just in - CLICK to enlarge! |
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| First Company Outing - September 5, 1954 (CLICK to enlarge) |
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| The 1975 addition to Station 5
has been named the
Raymond K. Spencer Memorial Annex.
(CLICK on photo to read details)
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| 1973 - Photo by Ken DeLorme |
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On Saturday, May 5, 1973, members of Company 5 attended live fire training at the New Haven Fire Department training ground on Hamilton Street. Ed Doiron took a number of photos that day. CLICK on the group photo at the right to view Ed's photos, posted on the Hamden Fire Retirees' Assn. website.
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| May 5, 1973 - New Haven Fire School on Hamilton Street |
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Welcome to our brand new website!
Attention members, past & present:
Please email JPGs of your photos
depicting Co. 5 activities to
barbanna@aol.com
Or mail your original photos to:
MCVFC Website
P.O. Box 5605
Hamden, CT 06518
We will scan them and mail them back to you within 24 hours of receipt.
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