Auxiliary celebrates 75th anniversary

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Active and veteran members of the MVFD Ladies Auxiliary gather for a 75th anniversary photo. The photo will go on a plaque honoring their 75 years of service to the department and to the town. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

The Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) honored the MVFD Ladies Auxiliary’s 75 years of service to the department and to the town by hosting a dinner and ceremony at Verdi’s in Waterbury April 22. Speaking at the ceremony, Fire Chief Brett Kales said of the group, “When I ask them for something, they are always there.”

He shared a tale of their service he said President Barbara Fecteau had asked him not to bring up. When firefighters were battling a morning fire on Kelly Road several years ago, she told him the women would be right out with sandwiches and beverages. The sandwiches turned out to be lunch rather than breakfast sandwiches, but the firefighters polished them off without a complaint.

First Selectman Edward B. St. John, a longtime member who served as chief in 1969, said in those years no tax dollars supported the department. They had to raise all the money for fire trucks on their own. He said the department would be forever indebted to the group for all the support money it has raised.

In the 60s, MVFD headquarters was a small building across from the current headquarters on Tucker Hill Road, on land that is now a small park. It could hold only one or two fire engines. When the current headquarters and the Southford Road fire station/police headquarters were built in the 1970s, St. John said the Auxiliary raised $100,000 towards the cost of the building and its furnishings.

He said a large part of that money came from an auction staged by the Auxiliary’s Muriel Smith and her late husband, firefighter Alfred “Al” Smith. Muriel said she and her husband came up with idea. Muriel even had a brother who was an auctioneer. “We used the Uniroyal building to store stuff we collected for almost 3 years,” she said, “Everything from furniture to lawn mowers.”

The day of the auction, which was held in the Public Works garage, Muriel said women from the group went back and forth between the town garage and the nearby transfer station. They would find treasures at the transfer station and run them down to the garage to be auctioned off.

Muriel, 88, was the oldest member at the event. She said the camaraderie among the group’s members made it very special. “We all got along,” she said. “We’d get together and have a lot of fun. We had a very good group of people.”

When awards were handed out Saturday, Jean Dawes was the member with the longest number of active years of service – 56. Asked how that was possible, Jean said she grew up in the fire department. “My mother and my aunt and my uncle and my father were all in the fire department, so you grow up that way and you just start working at the fire department.” Talking about the size of the old building, she said, “It was the smallest building ever – so small that when you walked into the kitchen, you had to wait for somebody to come out to get in.”

Dawes, who was the town’s tax collector for many years, also worked as an EMT on the Middlebury Ambulance for many years. She served six terms as president of the Auxiliary, and her aunt, Elsie Mellette, was one of the founding members of the Auxiliary.

Her daughter, Kristine Boisits, is an active Auxiliary member who was honored at the event for 17 years of service. She said the best part of being a member is serving the community and your family and being part of something your family has been part of for decades.

Karen Stowell was honored for 33 years of service. Her favorite fundraising event is making cookies for the cookie walk, and she works the Lobster Bake each June. She said she really enjoyed a past fundraising event, a fall craft fair with vendors. For that event, Auxiliary members made pies using a special piecrust recipe. “We made apple pies until they were coming out of our ears,” she said.

Right now, she is looking forward to hosting a statewide auxiliary get-together in September. Auxiliaries around the state will be invited to join the MVFD Ladies Auxiliary for refreshments.

The Auxiliary was founded in 1948 as a group that would support the MVFD, but they also support the community. For the Fire Department, some of their projects are raising funds for equipment and Auxiliary projects and hosting the annual New Haven County Chief’s Dinner and a children’s’ Christmas party for MVFD families. They feed firefighters battling blazes or performing water rescues or recoveries and, when there is a town wide need due to a snowstorm or natural disaster, they make sure the police and public works staff also have access to a hot meal.

For the community, the group gives out an annual scholarship for a graduating senior who lives in Middlebury, hosts the annual Halloween party and donates to social services during the year and also to help families over the holidays. They also reach out to support families affected by fires.

Karen said the last part of the Auxiliary pledge they say at the beginning of every meeting, “To respond, if at all possible, when called,” really sums up what they do.
“We are there to support our fire fighters by bringing food and drinks to them when they are out long hours fighting brush fires and structure fires,” she said.