2009 Awards Dinner

Thursday evening April 29th at 1900hrs the company held an awards dinner to announce the 2009 firefighter of the year and 2009 G.Roy Dilling award recipients. Members enjoyed a buffet dinner served by our hall caterer Renzi's Catering.

President Dave Macleary gave opening remarks, announced the 2009 administrative officers and recognized the following members who achieved a five year increment of service in 2009:

Craig E. Small-40 years
Lew Ogden III-30 years
C.D. Small-20 years
Nicole Small-15 years
Chad Small-15 years
Mike Hunter-10 years
Dave Kirkner-5 years
Steve Kimmel-5 years
Eleanor Heacock-5 years

Next on the agenda was the presentation of the 2009 G.Roy Dilling award. G.Roy Dilling was one of the first administrative officers of the company and a Past President of the company. G.Roy Dilling was very dedicated to the business details of the company that needed to be addressed. During his tenure, the company funded several pieces of fire apparatus including an in-house field fire truck (the old 66-2). G.Roy Dilling's wife Edna was also very active with the fire company ladies auxiliary including serving as the ladies auxiliary President for numerous years. The G.Roy Dilling award was created upon the sudden passing of Roy. The award is presented to a member of the company who has exemplified their efforts to better the company.

The 2009 G.Roy Dilling award was presented to Chief Craig E. Small. Chief Small has been serving the residents of Bethel Township and surrounding communities for 40 years. Chief Small during this time has held numerous positions in the company on both the operational (Chief, 1st Assistant Chief and 2nd Assistant Chief) and administrative (President and Board of Director) side.

Next was the presentation of the 2009 Firefighter of the year award. The firefighter of the year award was created in 1973 and each year honors a member for their dedication to the firefighting (answering alarms, training, apparatus/equipment maintenance) aspects of the company. This year the award was presented to "The Past Firefighters" of the company honoring all of those members prior to the 1973 award's inception for their faithful and dedicated service to our fire company. Some of those "Past Firefighters" include John G. Heacock, Percy Farren, Jules Davis, Wally Davis, Elbie McDaniel, George Davis, Charles Griffin Sr., Pete Mangold, Nic Ficca, Wilfred Davis and Harvey Davis.

Finally Chief Craig E. Small introduced the 2009 chief officers and announced the 2009 top twelve responders. The top twelve responders for 2009 were as follows:

1. Reece Thomas IV-246 alarms
2. Jim Smith-235 alarms
3. Ron Windsor Sr.-216 alarms
4. Charles Kitselman-200 alarms
5. Charles Hurst Jr.-174 alarms
6. Mike Heacock-173 alarms
7. Ben Robinson-153 alarms
8. Craig E. Small-149 alarms
9. John Heacock-148 alarms
10. Brett Small-145 alarms
11. Dan Dellobuono-116 alarms
12. Eric Dobrzynski-82 alarms

Congratulations to all award recipients and thank you to everyone who served the company in 2009.