After 58 years, veteran status

By Joseph Kelly

He was a young Navy veteran, about to be married and ready to start a family in his hometown when, in February 1968, his older brother convinced him to join the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department (NVFD). For Richard Byrne it was the start of an association that would last nearly six decades. Now in his 80s and a grandfather, he’s hanging up his helmet and gear for the last time, still a NVFD member, but now with veteran status.

When Byrne became a volunteer firefighter, the NVFD was on the cusp of big changes. It was still housed in the Royal Arcanum building, but bursting at the seams with trucks too big to fit into the old bays. Norfolk’s frigid weather often caused the siren to fail and hydrants to freeze. While it was an organization committed to putting out fires, it was also a bit of a men’s club. Three years after Byrne joined, consumption of libations at meetings was banned, prompting the resignation of some 40 members.

Byrne was part of a new generation. Like him, many new members joined after serving in the military. To bring in more recruits, the membership age was dropped from 21 to 18. A women’s auxiliary was formed, and plans were soon underway for a new firehouse—the one on Shepard Road that is just now being replaced. Byrne would quickly become a war-den of the department and go on to serve as both assistant chief and president.

When a history of the NVFD was written for its centennial in 2002, Byrne’s decision to become a firefighter was declared a “red letter day for the department,” one that had already brought about years of “beneficent influence.” For Byrne, service to the community is a family tradition. His grandfather, David Watt Torrance, left Scotland for the Holy Land to build a hospital in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. There he met and married Elizabeth Welch Curtiss, a descendant of the Curtiss family that first came to Norfolk in the 1760s, who was then studying at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. David and Elizabeth raised five children. The next-to-youngest was their daughter Phyliss who married Owen Byrne, an inspector in the Palestine Police Force. Phyllis and Owen went on to have eight children, including Richard, who was born in Jerusalem. Once World War II ended the family came to Norfolk and settled near the Curtiss homestead that still stands today at the northeast corner of Mountain Road and Sunset Ridge.

For a young boy back then, Norfolk offered an idyllic childhood of ball games on the town field, swimming in Tobey Pond and caddying at the Norfolk Country Club. Serving in the Navy was a major formative experience for Byrne, including learning how to fight fires aboard ships and developing an interest in aviation mechanics. After the Navy, he attended East Coast Aero Tech and was soon employed by Hamilton Standard (now Collins Aerospace) for work on the Apollo lunar landing program. But employment linked to government contracts proved too uncertain for supporting a growing family—Richard and his wife Madeline would go on to raise two boys, Keith and Daryl. Byrne found himself following in his father’s footsteps to a career in law enforcement. From 1972 to 1997 he was assigned to the airport division of the Connecticut State Police at Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks.

In his work as a policeman and the fire department Byrne says he always keeps in mind that whatever the call, “it’s likely you are responding to what for someone else is their worst moment in time.” His best moments were saving a woman’s life by performing CPR, extricating a young woman in a car accident and preventing her arm from being amputated and containing a house fire that threatened the book collection of a well-known publisher. But he recalls many calls that did not always have a completely salutary ending. For more than 25 years, Byrne has served as Norfolk’s director of emergency management, a volunteer position that can take considerable time during periods of frequent storms—like this winter. He’s also Norfolk’s official town historian, for decades having served on the board of the Norfolk Historical Society and also as president of the Norfolk Center Cemetery Association overseeing Norfolk’s centuries old historic burial ground.

In person, Byrne exudes a seemingly unshakeable aplomb. When town meetings are called—for example to pass the annual budget—he’s often selected as the moderator. (He admits, however, that he makes sure to bone up Robert’s Rules of Order to get ready.)

What clearly animates Byrne is a commitment to bringing along future generations. For years he was a leader of the local Boy Scouts and also helped develop the cadet program of the NVFD. Byrne is particularly proud of the more than a dozen NVFD cadets who have gone on to careers in emergency services, including both of his sons .

Today, on most days, you’ll find Byrne at Norfolk’s Botelle school, helping students there develop their skills in math. Byrne has been doing that for more than three decades, which means he’s now helping children whose parents he tutored years ago. Byrne remains a member of NVFD, but no longer goes out on calls or undergoes the training required of all active duty firefighters. In a recent ceremony at the firehouse, Byrne was presented with an official citation from the Connecticut General Assembly, sponsored by State Sen. Paul Honig and State Rep. Maria Horn. He also received a certificate from Governor Ned Lamont, all honoring his 58 years of active duty. Byrne is one of two current members to log over a half century of service in the NVFD. The other is Ron Zanobi, who joined in 1971.