NEAFC 32nd Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CI-IIEFS
at the beautiful spot o£ The Wentworth, I believe has been due in no small part
to the efforts of your officers
This Conference has been an excellent one, because of the ability and
thard work of your President, the Committees. and all who have assisted and
aided. But, as we look back through the years, we have with us tonight two
Chiefs whose work for this Association has been outstanding, and I believe
that every member and every offcer and every President of this Association
would agree with me, and I Certainly do not have the ~words to properly express
our love and our admiration for these two gentlemen.
I don’t believe they know" that I am here to say anything relative to them
or to their work for this Association. The two men I speak, of are retired
Fire Chiefs. One of them is Chief Cote, of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
(Applause.) He is a charter member and a founder of this organization. He
is a man who has always worked hard; he is the fellow, with his. small Committee,
who arose to the emergency this afternoon_ in the rain and brought our
visitors up here into the hall, so as to make it convenient and pleasant and comfortable
for us. (Applause.)
The other Chief of whom I speak has worked equally hard for this
Association; .he is a Past President of the Association, and he is a fellow upon
whose shoulders has rested the matter of hotel reservations, and all of those complicated
little things, the little details that go to make a convention like this
a success. And, of course, I refer to retired Chief Oliver Sanborn of Portland
Maine. (Applause.)
Chief Sanborn joined the Portland Fire Department in April, 1912.
He was appointed Chief in February, 1924, and his record in the city of Portland
is outstanding and has been outstanding.
Chief Cote joined the Woonsocket Fire Department in January, 1901; he
’was appointed Chief in 1908, I.believe it was, although it may .have been
before then, .because it was a little bit before my time that Chief Cote attended
the first International Convention. Last year, at Toronto, where we had about
2,000 registered, the entire group stood up and acclaimed Chief Cote, for his
long service to the Fire Service of this country. I know ofno better way to
express my feelings for these two men than in the words of the poem that
was written in the Chicago Tribune some time ago: We talk about their
work, about their effffciency as firemen, but first of all, I think of them as
friends. This little article went something like this:
’~What is a ;fiend? My friend is he who lives with me and who
weeps with me, who praises and rebukes me, who eats poultry and turkey
or bread and salt with me, who comes to me at the wedding feast, and
stands beside me at the coffin, who listens to my, hopes, my fears, my aims,
my despairs, and who rejoices in. my successes, and who does not despise
me in my misfortunes."
That has been their life’s work, and I think you will agree with me that
that, perhaps, exemplifies the type of: man Gus Cote and Ollie Sanborn represent.
(Applause.)
~ Then, as we look back, or, as we all, come to that point where we look back
on our careers, and. w~hat _we may have accomplished in .this world,~.I~ also
251