Former Orange Fire Chief David Frenzel stands with his wife of 45 years, Hildy, as they unveiled the new bronze hat monument at the Orange Fire Dept. commemorating Frenzel’s 53 years with the department.
Chief John Bilbo lead off the presentation. He talked about the people who donated money to have the monument made. “You know you work as long as you did, you make friends. But when your friends do something like this, you’re way past the friend stage. These people are family.”
Tad McKee said, “On behalf of the the Stark Foundation, I’d like to thank you for your years of leadership in our community, including your decades as a Troop One Scout Master, which will get you into heaven in itself.”
Bilbo also thanked his “Chaos Coordinator” Mary Lowe who organized the event as well as the other events involving Frenzel’s retirement.
Bilbo and Frenzel unveiled the new addition to Station One. After fighting back tears, Frenzel said, “This is one of the biggest honors of my life, right up there with marrying my wife. I want to thank everyone who was involved in this. I hope this serves as an inspiration to the young people coming up in the fire service, that you can have a career, fall in love with your job, and make a difference, not only with your department but your community.”
The monument was paid for by donations from the Stark Foundation as well as the Riedel family, the McKenna family, the Sichko family, the Claybar family and the Local 1432 Firefighters.
Congrats Chief!
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