Library honors local heroes

To honor the many first responders who selflessly rush into danger, the Rockville Centre Library invited local firefighters, police, and EMTs to share stories from the line of duty at its annual Heroes Day celebration last Friday.

Heroes Day began in 2015, as part of the library’s summer reading program, in which kids were encouraged to read when schools were on break. The theme that year was “superheroes,” and the library invited local “heroes” to tell children about their jobs. Since then, Heroes Day has become an annual tradition that village parents and children look forward to.

“A lot of kids want to be firefighters or police officers when they grow up,” Jennifer Marino, the head of the library’s youth services, said. “But it’s also nice for them to experience these things, like an ambulance or a fire truck, when it’s not an emergency. Today they get to see it in a comfortable, fun environment, so if something ever does happen, they’ll be familiar with it.”

Volunteers spent the morning giving children tours of two Rockville Centre Fire Department trucks, and showing them how to operate some of the instruments inside, including the sirens and radios. Defender Hose Company No. 1 hooked one of its lines up to a nearby hydrant to give youngsters a chance to hold the hose.

Page Sansone, a firefighter and EMT with Floodlight Company No. 1, showed kids where they would sit if they were to be transported in an emergency. “Unfortunately, the only time that we get to make contact with you is on your worst day,” Sansone said. “So, for kids, that could be really big and scary to them. However, showing them in this type of setting, where they’re having fun, they’re like, ‘Oh, this is cool. This isn’t so bad.’”

Inside the library, there was a ceremony honoring one of the heroes. Josie Howard, a Rockville Centre Fire Department firefighter, a paramedic, and a longtime library employee, died in February 2021, of Covid-19 and pneumonia. She was an active member of the community and was well known for her many years of work in the library’s children’s section.

The library held a ribbon cutting for a memorial to Howard that it designed to resemble a fire engine. A red bookshelf with the words “Floodlight Co.” on the front, in Howard’s memory, stood in the children’s section.

Mayor Francis X. Murray, who, as it happens, is a cousin of Howard’s, joined the ceremony, along with other members of the village board. According to Murray, the library director told him that when Howard died, the library needed to find three new employees to replace her in order to take on all the work she did.

“I am very excited today for the fact that the library decided to honor my first cousin Josie Murray Howard,” Murray said. “She worked very hard for this library, and for the residents of this village. She did so many things for so many people. We miss her terribly.”

Howard’s grandson Aidan Stutzmann, who is also a village firefighter and EMT, said that the memorial bookshelf used to be in the shape of a train, and his grandmother often talked about refurbishing it. He said he thought she would like how it looks now.

“I think it’s a really nice way to remember her incumbency with the Fire Department and the library together,” Stutzmann said. 

Outside, he helped show children around the fire trucks and taught them how to properly operate the hose.

Mark Bedson, captain of Defender Hose Company No. 1, said he enjoyed coming to the event every year because he not only gets to give kids information on fire safety but also gives their parents tips on what they should do in an emergency.

“It’s very worthwhile and fulfilling to see the excitement that the kids and the families have while being able to just show everyone parts of what one of our five firehouses in Rockville Centre does for the community,” Bedson said. “At this event last year, I had a little girl make a sign that said ‘thank you' to our company, and she gave it to me. I hung it up in the firehouse. To us, that’s what it is all about.”