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Retired Firefighters Newsletter
received from Gerald Beckett
e-mailed by Denny Coon
I’m sorry to report the passing of Donna Mae McConnell. She died May 1, 2008. Donna Mae was the widow of Harold McConnell, who received a disability retirement in 1977. Donna Mae was a lifelong resident of Des Moines and worked 50 years in the insurance business. She retired from Aon Risk Services in 2000 as Vice President of Marketing. She was preceded in death by Harold after 37 years of marriage. She is survived by her daughter Cheryl Ann McConnell, and son Lee Edward McConnell. I would like to thank Don Brown and the crew at Station 3 for their hospitality for the April mailing of our newsletter. Greg Seymour kept us in coffee to go with our donuts. Lanny Shultice, Jerry Schneider, Bill Burke, Harold Lawler, Charlie Cox and I did the mailing. Received stamp and donut money from Charlie Cox. Received stamp money from Bonita Brown. I talked to her earlier and she said Bob has been moved to the Veterans Home in Marshalltown. I never worked with Bob, but was on the other shift at old #3 and #18. He was always fun to be around. Received stamp money from John Williams at the Fire Department Stag. I enjoyed working with John at Station 7 in the 1990’s. John is a Captain at Station 2 on the 2nd Division. He is starting to think about retiring. The Memorial Breakfast at Station 1 will be Thursday, May 22nd at 7:00 a.m. We will be honoring all members of the Des Moines Fire Department, with special recognition to those who died in the last year. Since I began writing the newsletter in September 1999, we have paid to have 75 names put on the Memorial Wall at Coralville to honor the memories of our own for the families. At this time we have paid $5,775, which would not have been possible without your help. Any money not used for the mailing is in the Memorial fund. Hope to see you at the breakfast. The Local #4 Installation of Officers and Retirement Dinner will be Thursday, May 22nd at the police recreation building, 5374 E. University Ave., Pleasant Hill. Social hour will be from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. Beer, pop, coffee, milk and tea will be free; there will be a charge for mixed drinks. At 6:00 p.m. there will be a free steak dinner. RSVP’s are requested by Sunday, May 18th to one of the following union officers:
Mike Morris Station 8, Division 1 285-4526 Ross Hartline Station 1, Division 1 248-6001
Dan Lamb Station 8, Division 2 285-4526 Dan Savick Station 7, Division 3 208-4600 Dave Knutzen Station 1, 8-hour 237-1342 Cory Macumber Urbandale, Division 3 473-2603
I think I found out where the $20 came from a while back. George Close said he gave me $20 to take Joanne out to lunch. Because I had already put the money in the checking account, I had to foot the bill. Joanne says thanks. I want to thank Carolyn Walker for doing the labels for our mailing. She did double duty on the last batch. After putting in the last batch of changes she ran five months of labels. I noticed I had some bad addresses that went back a couple of years; the computer had picked up a list that was two or three years old. She was kind enough to run me five more months. I also want to thank Kay for her efforts in typing and running copies of our newsletter each month. I couldn’t do it without her. Judy Maxfield said her father Kenny Hansen is pretty much home bound now and requested we stop by and see him or drop him a line at 827 8th Avenue NW, Altoona, IA, 50009, or give him a call at 957-8868. I’m sure he would enjoy hearing from you. Congratulations to John and Marge Connors on 63 years of marriage April 5th. They still make their home in Des Moines. John retired from the Department in 1977. The Iowa Firefighters Memorial at Coralville will be Sunday June 22nd at 10:30 a.m. at the Memorial site. The annual candlelight service will be held Saturday, June 21st at 9:00 p.m. at the Memorial site. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Comfort Inn in Coralville for Saturday night, June 21st at a cost of $79 plus tax. Phone: 319-351-8144 and ask for the rooms reserved for the Iowa Firefighters Memorial. These rooms will be held until May 21st. Received stamp money and a note from Betty Davis. She said Charlie enjoyed getting the newsletter and she would like to continue receiving it. Charlie’s name will be added to the wall after May 15th of this year. Charlie Davis retired a Captain in 1985 after 29 years on the Department. Betty makes her home in Russell, IA. Joanne and I stopped to see Marcia Griffiths at her home in Arkansas while we were in Branson. We had a nice visit. She has had some health issues lately but was doing well the day we were there. Marcia wanted me to report she caught Joanne putting her butt in her coal bucket. It was good seeing you - maybe again this fall. Received stamp money before we left. The Local #4 golf outing will be Wednesday, May 28th and Thursday, May 29th at Toad Valley golf course. There will be an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start both days. The cost this year is $35, which includes 18 holes of golf, golf cart, 2 drink tickets and lunch. You can pay Kenny Parkins at Station 3, Division 1, or Russ Gillum at Station 1, Division 1. You need to let them know your foursome so they can set the tournament. I think they also have an account set up at the credit union for payment. I received a note from Betty Stradley that she wanted to change Dick Stradley’s name to Richard John Stradley on the Memorial Wall at Coralville. My first thought was too late, but then I remembered Dick died after the fall cutting and before the summer cutting. I called Mike Reuman and he said he would make the change; I’m glad we caught it in time. For those who might not know the schedule, names are added to the Memorial Wall twice yearly. The spring cut off for submittals is May 15th and those names will be carved on the wall in June. Submissions after May 15th will be accumulated until the fall cut off, which is September 15th. Those names will be added some time in October. I would like to thank Don Smith for his help with stamps and labels for our May mailing. Don reminisced over a number of names. We went to the Manhattan Deli for lunch when we finished. We found out that Vicki Hagar was in Italy. Hope you had a great trip Vicki. Received stamp money from Don. He wanted me to send a hello to Bobby Thompson from “yo yo”. Thanks for your good help Don. Don says he will be going to Seattle shrimping. I thought all our shrimp came from the gulf. Good luck. Those attending the breakfast were: Maynard Boatwright, Marv Hollingshead, Ray Morris, Jerry Schneider, Bill Burke, Bob Wing, Joe Norris, Kenny Barton, Phil McClaskey, Gerry Beckett, Bob Green, John Dakovich, Jerry Cohoon, Karl Johnson, Pat Murray, Don Fite, Nello Barbieri and George Close.
Received stamp money from Bob Wing, Marv Hollingshead, Maynard Boatwright and Phil McClaskey.
Janet Jenkins called to let me know Richard had been hospitalized. He was in intensive care on a breathing machine for 10 days and in intensive care for 17 days. He was going to be released from the hospital after 30 days. I hope things are going well for you at this time.
