By Brian Zanzonico
His are hands forged as a machinist's mate during World War II, as a longtime employee of the old New York Telephone Company, and as a member of the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department.
Jim Minor was honored by the fire department for his 50 years of service Sept. 24 at the firehouse. He is one of eight living members with a half century with the department. "I'm the junior member," Minor, now an honorary captain, joked at his home recently.
When he joined the department in 1955, the Hook and Ladder Company operated out of an old rented house at Hempstead Turnpike and McKinley Avenue that is now the Grace Baptist Church.
A one-time deparment president, he was an on-again, off-again lieutenant and captain between 1960 and 1970. In 1969 he was elected trustee of the Exempt Benevolent Volunteer Fireman's Association.
Minor was interested in firefighting from a young age. Born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, he would hear the rigs pulling out of the firehouse, sirens blaring, on 69th Street and Third Avenue, blocks from his boyhood home. After returning from the war, he took the city fire department test, but didn't get called.
Minor moved from Bay Ridge to Franklin Square in 1953 with his wife, Loretta, to raise their children, Jim Jr. and Dawn. The man he bought the house from took him for sandwiches and beer at old Jack's Lounge on Hempstead Turnpike. He was a member of the Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department, and explained to Minor how anyone could join, and that even wives get involved, through the Ladies' Auxiliary. Minor then learned that the neighbors on both sides of his new home, Jack Schilt and Ted Van Dam, were members of the department, and he signed up. On Saturday, he joined them in the 50-years-of-service club.
"When I started, all my company had was a '46 Pirsch ladder truck," Minor recalled. "Now look at all the stuff we've got."
He said that training in volunteer fire departments has evolved immeasurably, from simple hose exercises to better protection of the men and women who serve. "We had no fire school back then," Minor explained. "OSHA [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] has compelled us to have more extensive training than previously."
He recalls the men lost in the line of duty over the last 50 years. Charlie Dibbs, who died of a heart attack running to a fire down the street from his home. Danny Strong, who suffered a fatal heart attack at a fire. And Tom Hetzel, a member of the FDNY who perished at the World Trade Center on 9/11. "He was a young guy," Minor said of Hetzel. "Left a beautiful wife and baby."
Minor fought hundreds of fires, but one in particular stands out. About 20 years ago, he found an infant in its crib, dead from smoke inhalation. "The smoke in the room was so bad, when I picked her up to hand her out the window, the shape of her in the crib was the only thing that was white," he recounted. "The rest was all black."
It has been two decades since he jumped out of bed on a winter night to respond to a call, but Minor has had his own battles to fight. After surviving multiple heart attacks, he suffered a stroke in April. With some speech and physical therapy, he is almost fully recovered. And his grip is as strong as ever.
"He's back real good," Schilt said. "He's always working with the flowers around his house, always borrowing my tools."
Saturday, after years of coordinating 50-year dinners for others, Minor entered the pantheon of Franklin Square & Munson Fire Department's greatest contributors. "Now he's getting his day," Loretta said.
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