Retired Beaver fire chief feted at meeting

BEAVER TOWNSHIP -- Fire chief Gary Borman, who recently retired, was honored at Tuesday's trustees meeting for his 50 years of service as a firefighter and EMT.

A career of firefighting had already been in Borman's family, with his father being a firefighter before him. Borman followed in his dad's footsteps and became a junior firefighter at the age of 16.

"My dad was a volunteer firefighter in Strabane, Pa. And when I turned 16, dad said, 'Come on, you're gonna go with me.' So, I've been doing this since I was 16," Borman said.

As the years passed, Borman truly fell in love with his career and got a sense of meaning from it.

"It was amazing," Borman said. "As I told the trustees, little did they know it, but whenever I was the full-time fire chief, I would have worked for nothing if they would have bought my lunch. I loved it."

When reminiscing about his time as fire chief, Borman said he admired the work ethic and sense of duty that the other firefighters displayed.

"Having all these people do all that work for me, they were great, they were absolutely great," Borman said. "All you had to do was say, 'I think we ought to do this,' and they line up to do it."

What was especially rewarding for Borman was that he was able to save lives, both as a firefighter and EMT. He specifically enjoyed that he was able to assist the elderly and former military personnel.

"Every once in a while it was nice to say, 'You see that guy? He's alive because of me.' That was really fulfilling," Borman said. "I especially liked to work with veterans and old people. Because I can relate to old people, and I love veterans. So, I loved that part, I truly loved it."

Borman was presented a plaque for his service by the trustees, and received a standing ovation.