Collette and Gary Pitcher originally imagined an unveiling of their firefighter statue, “Every Day A Hero,” near the site of the World Trade Towers.
But just before the unveiling outside the Williston Park Fire Department on Memorial Day morning, Collette Pitcher said the statue had found its proper place.
“Everything we tried to have happen, didn’t happen,” Collette Pitcher said. “It seems like this will be a better location.”
The project began two years ago at a district conference of the Rotary Club the Pitchers belong to in Colorado. The guiding principal was to render a statue of a first responder during the World Trade Attacks and donate it to the New York City Fire Department.
A foundry worker near where the Pitchers live in Eaton, Col. posed for the statue that depicts a firefighter with a fire hose at the ready. Collette did the initial stature in clay. Then Gary created a mold and the statue quickly went from clay to bronze.
‘It was a team effort,” he said. “Once we had the mold it took us two weeks to create.”
But during the next two years the Pitchers were unable to finding a spot in New York for the statute. Most fire stations there simply don’t have space for a bronze statue in cramped city firehouses.
Then Timothy Joyce, former Williston Park assistant fire chief and a Rotarian, encountered someone from Colorado at a Rotary event.
Joyce approached Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar about a possible installation of the statue at the village firehouse about a year ago. Mary Ann Fearon, owner of the Whistle Stop on Hillside Avenue, opened an indirect dialogue with the Pitchers about locating the statue in Williston Park through a mutual friend.
One thing finally led to another. A Rotarian in Fort Collins, an Israeli immigrant named Illan Levey, offered to put the statue on one of his Exodus Trucking moving vehicles to get it to Williston Park.
“As soon as he heard about this project, he called us and said he’d ship it,” Gary Pitcher said.
Joyce worked with the sculptors to enable a reproduction of the Williston Park Fire Department badge on the bronze fireman’s helmet.
At Joyce’s suggestion, Dylan Perrot, a member of Boy Scout Troop 45 aspiring to make Eagle, took on a community service project to build a base for the statue.
Perrot estimated he put 420 hours into the project, from planning stages through installation of the tiles. He handled the design and oversaw the work of members of the Williston Park Department of Public Works and volunteer firefighters, including Joyce. At the dedication of the statue, Perrot said it’s to “remember the fallen heroes and those who serve today.”
Nancy Zolezzi, president of the Williston Park Rotary and former East Williston mayor, officially accepted the statue that was originally commissioned by the Greely Centennial Rotary Club and Rotarians of District 5440 in Colorado.
“It’s a pleasure and an honor to accept this treasure,” Zolezzi said, calling Joyce “instrumental to this project.”
Village DPW Superintendent Keith Bunnell, also a volunteer firefighter, also played a role. D&A Concrete and Home Depot contributed materials to support “Every Day A Hero”.
“It’s fitting because the volunteer firefighters are our everyday heroes,” said Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello.
Williston Park Fire Department Chief George Jaronczyk singled out one of those heroes, the late Leonard Lang, during Monday’s ceremonies, presenting a proclamation from Ehrbar to Lang’s family.
“He was a man who respected all and was respected by all,” Jaronczyk said. “We’ll miss him greatly in Williston Park.”
Lang died in March after a brief illness at age 82. He had been active in the volunteer fire service for 65 years after joining up when was 17 years old.
The Williston Park statue was the Pitcher’s second installation, but the only one that will wear a customized fire helmet, they said..
The first installation was at a new fire station in Grand Junction, CO.
