Hose Company celebrates 130 years of community service

The company officers sworn in were President Chuck Rothermel, Vice President Peter Hunter, Recording Secretary Keith Beebe, Financial Secretary Mary Ann Perez, Treasurer/Trustee Bruce Charbonneau, and trustees Stan Dzek, Dave Johnson, Barry Knights and Mike Urbaitis. Line officers sworn in were Chief Dennis Kinnicut, First Assistant Chief Larry Eisen, Second Assistant Chief Matt Cohn, Captain Dave Bartlett, First Lieutenant Clayton VanAlstyne, Second Lieutenant Gordon Pratt, First Police Captain Tad Hoddick and Chaplan Dan Cohn. Ladies auxiliary include President Tanya Hunter, Vice President Dotty Masten, Secretary Kari Powell and Treasurer Michelle Hauser.

Phillips also asked for the longest-serving current members of the department to be acknowledged.The longest-serving member Harry Pulver, who has served for 67 years, could not be in attendance. The following were present: Fred Oles, served 59 years, Dave Johnson, served 40 years, Al Morris, served 40 years, Chuck Rothermel, served 40 years, Al Folmsbee, served 33 years, Richard Phillips, served 28 years, Jim Sheehey, served 28 years and Tom Hunt, served 27 years.

After these acknowledgments, Phillips spoke further to the Register-Star. He singled Hunter out and said though he will no longer work as chief he is pleased he will continue to serve Kinderhook as vice president."Its just a time to thank our members for their time and dedication and their families too," Phillips said. "I thank Pete Hunter for an astounding four years as chief.Some significant individuals in New York's firefighter community also spoke.

David Quinn, the Chief Administrative Officer for the Firemen's Association of the State of New York said the association has set an ambitious goal for the near future."We hope to garner over 15,000 troops over a four-year period," Quinn said. "I know that we can do that."Jamie Smith-Quinn, the Executive Director of the FASNY Museum, said she is working with her staff to transition from a warehouse model to an interactive model. In addition to seeing historic firefighter equipment and other items, she mentioned programs for people who want a more hands-on approach. One program is Super Saturdays, which invites attendees to demonstrations of techniques used by New York State firefighters.