Lima Volunteer Fire Department members from Left to Right: Life Member Dick Garey, Junior Firefighter Sean Garey, Firefighter Rhyan Garey, Firefighter Richard “Dickie” Garey. Photo by Richard Garey
In April of 1954, a week after his 18th Birthday, then high school senior Dick Garey nervously stood outside the Lima Volunteer Fire Department Fire House on a cool Monday evening, awaiting the arrival of the Fire Chief., Frank McDonald. With the arrival of the Chief a few minutes later, Dick expressed an interest in joining the fire department, sticking out his hand, full of loose change, to show he had brought the $2 required as the initial membership fee. Dick’s interest in the Fire Department started more 10 years prior when the Lima Fire Department had successfully extinguished a small fire, started by a tipped over candle in a bedroom he shared with his sister as the Garey Family rented the second floor of the Doran house on East Main Street in Lima. The fire department’s actions that day, were so swift and inspiring that Dick was committed to someday become a firefighter himself. Later that spring evening in 1954, having paid his $2, Dick became an official Lima Volunteer Firefighter.
Just days after joining, Dick found himself riding on top of the department’s 1941 Ford Pumper to a major fire in Avon, at a time when a limited amount rubber fire gear was shared between the members of the department. Dick soon found himself at the end of a hose line in the basement actively fighting a fire. A few minutes later, an officer found him in the basement and ripped his helmet from his head and proclaimed, “The Chief wants his damn helmet” leaving him in the basement to continue his work, a little confused and without a helmet. Over the next 70 years Dick served the Lima Volunteer Fire Department in every possible capacity. He completed more than 1000 hours of state training and served as a line officer and eventually Chief of the department for more than three years. Dick was also involved in just about every event the Lima Fire Department conducted in those 70 years; carnivals, raffles, parades, drills, training, fires, and hundreds of community events. He used to spend the entirety of his annual 2 weeks of vacation from the Rochester Telephone Corporation where he worked for 35 years, solely on the preparation and execution of the annual Lima Fireman’s Carnival which he served as the Carnival Chairman of for multiple years.
Over time, his service to the Department became a family affair. In 1987 his son Richard Garey “Dickie” joined the department as a Junior Firefighter and then became a firefighter in the department on his 18th Birthday in 1991. He now serves the department as the Chief alongside two of his sons, Dick’s Grandsons, Rhyan and Sean. The oldest, Rhyan Garey joined the department as a Junior Firefighter when he was 14 and became a firefighter on his 18th Birthday in 2023, and remains active in the department when not at Penn State where he is a Sophomore in the Army ROTC program. Dick’s youngest grandson, Sean recently joined the Junior Firefighters this past fall and is looking forward to continuing his family’s legacy in the department.
The Lima Volunteer Fire Department is no stranger to generations of families that serve the department and the Lima community. The names on the coats that hang on the rows of gear at the firehouse tell the story; Garey, Luft, Crego, and Kenny are just a few that appear multiple times on these worn and weathered coats that hang patiently waiting for the next emergency. These traditions are the cornerstone of the volunteer fire service and the Lima Volunteer Fire Department, an organization that has been continuously in operation, solely as a volunteer organization since 1830.
Now, nearing his 89th Birthday, Dick Garey finds his time in the firetrucks mostly associated with parades but that has not dampened his passion for the Lima Volunteer Fire Department. Dick can be found on most days stopping by the firehouse to check on the status of things and offer his son a gentle reminder of a fire truck that needs washing or a bay that needs sweeping; a never-ending commitment and a family’s tradition of service.
