NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS
But, it is in, the call and the chal’lenges of professional service and in its opera,
tiv.ns that we are thinking of those who "have finished the course", who have laid down
life..Could we gather together the sum total of the acts that were performed on behalf
of the public in the course of duty, we should, find many who would be labeled "heroic"
by the laymen. ~-
Many were the urgencies which ~alled for quick thinking_and quick action,, and in
these, heroism was born. Was it not doing the impossible? No, not necessarily. Was
it in.doing what no other man would do if given opportunity in, a similar situation?
No; probably not. ’It was in doing what needed to be done at the time that it was most
urgently needed. Ands, the record of such actions in, the course of a life-time is replete
with satisfying accomplishments. ~
The best things in lif~ cannot be measured. Thekindly wo,rd, a good deed, a
sincere example, the support of good works, the spiritual life, the love of God, the
influence of a life--these things are, and they have become, a part of our experience,
and we know of their great value, but we cannct evaluate their true worth, their full
value.
So that it is about those whohave, to us, become a memoryT- There is a sum total
of their goodness that abounds, that exists in the lives of men and women they have
touched. ,
In this, they have a kind, of immortality. Their ideas., .their work, their gQod dee-ds,
persist with the impression~ of their personalities.. No man is truly ever forgotten. For,
if he persists as ’a memory in a single mind, though he may not be recalled often, heis
remembered. -~ - - - - -’ ......
¯ But all remembvr a colleague. A valued associate. A true friend.
Those who are. gone, have been these to some or many of you.
In the spirit of )ou~ relationship, you rear the proper Memorial, and remembe.r
John Henry Newman’s line:
"Sd long thy pcwer hath blest _
Sure it will lead me on,
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrengtill;
The Night. is gone;
And, with the morn,
Those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since ....
And lost awhile."
PRESIDENT MOLLOY: NOW we will close with Benediction by the Rev. John P.
Fitzsim.mons of Belmont, Massachusetts, our Chaplain.
CHAPLAIN FITZSlMMONS: Andl now ma~ ~ peace of God, the love of our Lord
Jesus Christ bring every friendly bliss and blessing and vision, to all of us who follow in
Thy name, now and forever more. Amen!
PRESIDENT MOLLOY: This closes our Memorial Services at the present time, but I
have a couple of announcements.