Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

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Retired firemen were honored at a dinner at
Memorial Hall. Attending were, left to right, seated.
Jim Porter. Julius Westphal, Vic Yount, Harold Gray.
Ray Huerter, Howard Robertson. Jim Morrissey:
standing, Cecil Farmer. George Gerst. Dean Ricklefs.
Street. He tossed the trunk out, and when it landed on
the ground. every piece of antique china broke except
one pitcher, which bounced in the air and was caught
by Mildred Mills.
D.A.(Buddy) Downing told of the time the Anamosa
firemen fought the egg house fire at Harry Newlin's and
were assisted by the Brown Township firemen. Two of
the latter firemen grabbed hoses and headed for the
creek, but meeting head on, they cracked heads and
both fell into the water.
The retired firemen who were honored, and their
years of service, were: Julius “Dutch” Westphal, 27;
Lyle Russell, 25: Red Chipman, 23: Jim Porter and
Harold "Vic" Yount, 22: Bill Dorgeloh, 21: Bob
McCullough, 18; Harold Gray, Cecil Farmer, 17; Al
Snyder, 16: D.A. "Buddy" Downing, 14; John
Westphal, 13: Cecil Blayney, 12; Dillon Hall, 11:
Everett Anderberg. 10; Glen Werderman, Herman
Adams, Gerald Kehoe, nine: Kenny Butterfield. Carl
Underwood, eight; Neal Pealer, Bob Fairbanks. seven:
Howard Robertson, Neil Norton. six: Dean Ricklefs, Don
Dearbom, L.E. Taylor, Galen Robertson. Lawrence
Otten. Ralph Conley, Bill Smith, five; Marvin
Westphal,Jack Rees, Clarence “Clink" Dirks. Charles
R. Arthur, Bill Lemrond, Bill Jensen, “Tuffy“
Hollingsworth, four: Don Glick, George Armstrong,
Vern Cook. three; Don Goodman, Jim Morrisey, Ted
Krouse. Don Legget, Keith McCarty, Ed McAleer, Joe
Gorius, George Gerst and Fred Pond, one.
The fire department is presently incorporated under
the name of Anamosa Fire Fighters. There are 29 active
members, with 12 to 20 men available to answer day
calls: this number increases to 26 in the evening.
Needless to say, there has been a vast amount of
progress since the early fire fighters were the men, boys
and women, who brought pails from their homes to
fight the terrible fires. However, even with the
improved equipment and training, one comparison
brought out in a recent Anamosa Journal-Eureka
newspaper article, was the ever increasing toxic
materials present in building materials, which are lifethreatening
to the fire fighter. Ivan Eden, Anamosa fire
Lyle Russell. Tufly Hollingsworth, D.A. Downing, Fred
Pilcher. Don Goodman, Dillon Hall. Ralph Conley, Bill
Dorgeloh. Herman Adams, Kenny Butterfleld. Don
Glick. (Journal-Eureka photo by JAM)
chief, and 25-year veteran of the department, said, “At
fires now, wearing a breathing apparatus is almost
always necessary." It was noted by Ivan that it takes a
lot more training to be a fireman today. This training is
being served in part by televised training films which
are available through the office of Jones County
Disaster Services Director, Dianna DeSotel. Today the
volunteer firemen are notified through pager units that
were purchased in 1978, with the help of the
community through firemen-sponsored fund raisers.
and from contributions from the city council and fire
departments.
Although the first volunteer fire department may
have been called to aid in the rescue of drowning
victims, they did not have to remove victims from
wrecked vehicles. The Anamosa Fire Department now
has a piece of equipment called the Jaws of Life. The
$10,000 cost was raised mainly through the efforts of
‘i
Longest service on the Anamosa flre department
has been achieved by Lyle Russell, 21 years. (left) and
Guy Taylor, 24 years. Taylor, aformer chief, has held
all ofllces in the department. (From April 4, 1966
Cedar Rapids Gazette)