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The East Greenbush Fire Company has lost a dear friend of ours.
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Past Chief and Life Member Chuck Hellmuth passed away earlier this morning.
Chuck got his start in the fire service with the E.F. Hose Company in the City of Rensselaer in 1956.
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In the late '60s, Chuck and his family moved to East Greenbush and joined the Sherwood Park Fire Company. Chuck made the move with about a dozen other members to the East Greenbush Fire Company when Sherwood Park merged with East Greenbush in the early '70s.
Chuck served as our Chief in 1978, and then again in 1987 and 1988.
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In more recent years, Chuck took an active role in serving as our long-time convention delegate to both the Hudson Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association and to the Hudson Mohawk Volunteer Firemen's Assocation.
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In addition, Chuck was a long-time attendee of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs (NYSAFC) annual conventions, where he would attend lecture classes during the day. In the evening, one would usually find Chuck posted up in the hospitality room, regaling the "young bucks" who gathered 'round with stories from the fire service from years gone by.
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It is always tough to lose someone in any organization; it is devastating to lose someone like Chuck. His institutional memory (and his penchant for attending all things fraternal) is something that can never be replaced.
Rest in peace, friend.
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