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Veteran Norfolk Firefighter Looks to Centennial
Ted Wuori, long-time fireman and officer of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department, sat on his front porch shortly after celebrating his 75th birthday and reminisced about his family and the department over the past hundred years. He was privy to the preparations for the Centennial to be held on July 6, because his home sits directly across the street from the department on Shepard Road.
His home, the former Holleran residence, was the location of the first telephone exchange in the town of Norfolk. As such it was the point of communication between the fire chief and residents who were reporting a fire. For twenty-four years, the chief, Jack Griffin, lived next door in Mrs. Maloney’s apartments and livery service and was ever ready to respond.
Ted related how his father, Frank, was a confrere and driver for Jack Griffin. Frank Wuori for years was the department’s mechanic responsible for the cleanliness and repair of the apparatus. At that time, the trucks could not be brought down to George’s Garage for repair. It had to be done in-house and was done creditably by Frank Wuori.
When Ted Wuori was mustered out of the Navy shortly after WWII, he married and he and his wife Anne settled into an apartment on Maple Avenue. Until their first child was born, the Wuoris lived cheek-by-jowl with the garage where a bunch of rogue firemen secreted the Auto Chemical Truck which they had purloined from the department shortly after it was acquired. The dissension this "theft" caused in the town was severe, but eventually the department overcame its loss with newer equipment and better management.
Anne Wuori was one of the founding mothers of the Ladies Auxiliary. She recalled the initial reluctance of the fire department to charter an auxiliary. But once in existence, the auxiliary provided such valuable services, financial and otherwise, that it became indispensable. Anne remembers with a shudder getting up in the middle of a sub-zero night to prepare sandwiches, coffee, and eventually breakfast for the ice-encrusted firemen.
Both Anne and Ted were especially fond of the baseball-playing chief, Joe Garrity. They recall his boasting that he hit the longest homerun of anyone in Northwestern Connecticut. "It was hit in Connecticut," he said, "and landed in New York." (Actually the ball landed on the coal car of a passing freight train headed for the city.)
Ted’s father Frank drove Chief Jack Griffin to fires and Ted himself drove Chief Marty O’Connor, a no-nonsense disciplinarian, to the "Ma" Greene barn fire on Route 272. Wuori laughs when he tells of O’Connor incongruously fumbling to light a cigarette on the way to the blaze.
During much of his life and career, Wuori had a collecting business, and he rescued many a document and pictures relating to the history of the department. These papers help him recall his earliest involvement with the department as a drummer in the Drum and Bugle Corps on Memorial Day.
Both Anne and Ted are particularly pleased that their son Dan followed in their footsteps, becoming the president of the organization in recent years. Dan is on the Centennial Commission and is in charge of the raffle.
It is clear that over the past hundred years, the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department was interwoven in the fabric of the Wuori family. They look forward to sharing their memories on July 6 and to recount precious times in the Norfolk community.
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