70 years of dedication to Shelter Island
On the evening of Feb. 3, Maurice “Tut” Tuttle celebrated his 70th anniversary as a member of the Shelter Island Fire Department with a small gathering at the Center Firehouse.
Because of the pandemic, the Fire District had to restrict the celebration to just a few people. But Jackie Tuttle, Mr. Tuttle’s wife of 65 years, said she had sent out notices to friends about the anniversary.
“We got back 93 mailed responses of congratulation,” Ms. Tuttle said.
The longest serving active member of the department, Mr. Tuttle, 88, joined on Feb. 3, 1951 when he was still in high school and Harry Truman was president. That winter the average price of a new house was $9,000, a new car cost $1,500 and putting gas in it cost 19 cents a gallon.
On Saturday he remembered that a powerful and positive influence on his joining up was the example of family friend Tom Young, who was five years older and a member of the department, who Mr. Tuttle looked up to as a surrogate older brother.
“I’m ready.”
Maurice ‘Tut’ Tuttle on reaching 75 years of service
As he told the Reporter on his 65th anniversary, another spur to become a fire fighter was seeing lights in the sky from flames consuming the Prospect Hotel when he was a boy living by South Ferry.
In his 70 years, Mr. Tuttle has served as a commissioner and was treasurer for the district for 37 years. He’s best known as an organizer, chairing committees for the Chicken Barbecue, the annual dinner and numerous fundraisers.
Ms. Tuttle remembered a time when her husband worked all day, came home and answered a call for a fire on West Neck Road and got home too tired to even shower. He woke up, still covered with black soot from the fire, and a severe pain in his stomach. He insisted on showering before being taken to the hospital for an appendectomy.
At his 65th anniversary, Mr. Tuttle spoke of his early years of training, which was different from today’s methods. In those days, training was on-the-job, learning to drive trucks and use equipment on the fly. Today, volunteers to the department are required to do much more extensive training, since the equipment needed to fight modern fires has become more complex.
Mr. Tuttle was also treasurer of the Shelter Island Volunteer Exempt Benevolent Firemen’s Association (SIVEBFA) prior to the Heights and Center departments merging in the 1990s. He picked right up where he left off, becoming treasurer of the SIVEBFA for the merged department.
A Navy veteran, he’s a long-time member of the American Legion, where he’s the only original member of the honor guard. Ms. Tuttle is well known to Islanders as the woman who served as fire district secretary until her retirement in July 2013 after 25 years.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine, who for many years represented Shelter Island in the Suffolk County Legislature, was at Mr. Tuttle’s 65th anniversary. On Feb. 3 he was at the Center Firehouse again, to celebrate the firefighter’s 70th, and spoke about Mr. Tuttle’s dedication to Shelter Island, and presented him with a plaque.
He said to veteran firefighter, “How about 75?”
“I’m ready,” Mr. Tuttle answered.
