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Chaplaincy was where H'ton Manor firefighter shined
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| | | Courtesy Steve Silverman (click for larger version) | |
September 16, 2009 | 04:06 PM
Richard Holst, the Huntington Manor volunteer firefighter who died in the line of duty last week, was just beginning to settle into retirement. "I can't even tell you how sad I am about that for him," his wife of 35 years, Noreen Holst, said. "All of those nice things you plan on doing when you retire; all those nice things you store away."
In February, Holst, 60, of Huntington Station, rounded off a 33-year career as a technician for Key Span/National Grid's gas service department. Holst, a fire police captain and chaplain for the Huntington Manor Fire Department, died Sept. 9 while fighting a fire at the Uber Café bagel store on Depot Road in Huntington Station.
Returning home from the firehouse, Holst noticed smoke billowing out of the café and called the fire in to his department. Shortly afterward, the veteran firefighter collapsed at the scene and was taken to Huntington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy and determined that Holst died of natural causes. "He was a wonderful, loyal, compassionate person, truly dedicated to his fire department and serving that department as its chaplain for more than 25 years," Noreen said.
Holst's caring nature was on display whenever Town Clerk Jo-Ann Raia saw him. Observing that she was unaccompanied at the installation of the fire police association, Holst invited her to dance, Raia recalled. "He was a compassionate, sensitive man."
That keen sensitivity led the Huntington Manor Fire Department to elect Holst their chaplain.
"I can't speak for the members but something about my husband spoke to them and made them all feel comfortable with him in that position," Noreen said.
A member of the International Federation of Fire Chaplains, Holst had also served as the chief chaplain of the New York State Association of Fire Chaplains since April 2008.
"Unflappable" is the word that the association's active chief chaplain Barrie Lyn Foster used to describe Holst. "He was just one of those regular good guys."
A chaplain can be many things, Foster said. "Rich officiated at a lot of the line of duty deaths after Sept. 11, 2001, and the regular things you have to do for funerals for department members who die of old age or other causes."
At an emergency, a fire chaplain serves as a liaison between victims' families and fire officials and often they are on the scene available to anyone in need of comforting.
Having known him for more than 16 years, Huntington Manor second assistant chief Gary Hatton explained that Holst was an interior firefighter but his primary duty was working in the fire police squad.
"He still drove the engines to the calls," Hatton said. "But he had seniority, so more of the junior members took over the actual firefighting, but he still took an active role in any fire he was at."
But the chaplaincy is where Holst stood out. "There was so much of his job that nobody really knows what he did. Part of his duties at the firehouse were if someone was sick, he would comfort them; if someone was injured, he was down at the hospital, making sure they were okay [or] going to their house, making sure their families were okay."
As fire police captain, Holst helped the firefighters do their jobs, directing trucks when they came in and steadying the flow of traffic. "And probably one of the most important things is keeping the people at bay so none of them gets injured," Hatton added. "They would be the ones shutting the road down, making sure nobody else got hit by any cars and directing traffic."
Growing up in Hempstead, firefighting was a cornerstone of Holst's life, Noreen said. "His father was a firefighter and rose to the rank of chief of his fire department. So it's something he grew up with."
During the Vietnam War, Holst served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Saratoga. "Fortunately he was deployed in the Mediterranean fleet which didn't go to Vietnam." The fire department became his focus for more than 25 years. "That was his passion. Although they're not a paid department here, it might as well be. They devote as much time to it as those members [in] paid departments."
Richard Holst is survived by his mother, Martha, of Palm Beach, Florida; a sister, Holly O'Brien, and brothers John, also of Florida, and Donald, of Delaware. Services were held over the weekend, with burial on Monday.
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