By JIM KEVLIN


When those propane tanks exploded on that D&H freight train north of Emmons on Feb. 12, 1974, young Pat Pidgeon was skating on Hodges Pond.
“You could see the glow in the sky,” Patrick W. Pidgeon, who will be the City of Oneonta’s new fire chief on Jan. 1, recalled the other day.
But Pidgeons were more than casual observers that day.
His dad, Charles, a call fireman, and two captains – Charlie’s brother Joe and cousin Ron – were injured; Pat remembers seeing their burned coats.
Capt. Ronald Pidgeon was the mostly badly burned of the many firefighters injured that day, spending months recuperating at Albany Medical Center.
But that’s a way of life for the Pidgeons of Oneonta. The prospective chief proudly relates he is the ninth family member to serve the local department.
In addition to himself, Charles, Joe and Ron, there was Herbie, a captain of the call firemen; Michael, a call fireman; Jeff, who retired after 25 years as a firefighter; Herbie’s son, Brett, a call fireman, and firefighter Jack Emmett, related to Ron by marriage.
Common Council chose Pidgeon, a captain and 21-year veteran, from a field of four on Tuesday, Dec. 12, to succeed Robert Barnes as chief of the 25-person department, plus a dozen parttimers.
Pidgeon never remembers when he didn’t want to be a firefighter, (and his promotion to chief fulfills a lifelong dream.)
A few months after the D&H explosion – on June 14 – young Pat, 10 at the time, got home from school, pulled on a pair of rubber boots and, with pal John Bagnardi, rushed up to Hartwick College, where 200 firefighters were trying to douse a fire in the library.
He remembers slogging through the wet basement after the fire, helping the men remove tons of soaked and ruined records.
One of six siblings – Michael and Charlene (Donnell) were older; Brian, Cathleen and Colleen (Erbe) younger – Pat remembers always working: Mowing lawns in the neighborhood, handling a paper route.
Graduating from OHS in 1980, he joined Schuman “B” Line movers as a truck driver, but kept an eye on his goal, joining the call department in 1984 and the fulltime force in 1988.
His first captain, Robert Russo, took him under his wing, and soon he took over the annual fire-prevention programs in the four public schools, plus St. Mary’s.
It’s an interest he’s maintained until today, developing the K-6 “Risk Watch” curriculum for local schools and adding an educational component to tours school children take of the firehouse at Main and Market.
Looking at his resume, you can see he was soaking up all the training available.
He was one of the department’s first EMTs when it upgraded from the less-sophisticated BLS – basic life support – service.
By 1994, he was a crew leader. In 1995, he began working on fire-investigator credentials. Since 2003, he’s been one of four captains, supervising a shift of five full-time firefighters, 24 hours on, three days off.
After 9-11, he underwent intensive Haz-Mat training, becoming chief of what was then a 40-person Otsego-County-wide force.
His first unforgettable blaze came on March 2, 1992, when the alarm sounded in the wee hours: The Dark Horse Tavern, Market Street, was on fire.
Captain Russo was in the front of the truck, Vic Williams was driving, and Pat and cousin Jeff were sitting in the jump seats, facing backwards.
“It was rip-roaring when we got there,” said Pidgeon. As the engine rode up to the scene, a back draft knocked the I-beam out of the front of the building, crushing the line of cars parked below.
“I was on the scene for 18 hours,” Pidgeon said.
A more painful memory is of that Grand Street fire.
Pidgeon, arriving on the third truck, helped evacuate people from the front apartment.
“We went upstairs to complete a search of the second floor,” he said. “Eventually, I was the one who found the two kids.”
He can’t go on, and the subject of the interview changes to strategy, which long experience can make almost second nature.
Take that fire last year in that two-family house at 382 Main, across from Friendly’s. Twenty years ago, he would have gone “gung-ho” into battle.
But arriving at the scene, he saw the smoke coming from under the front eaves and knew the heat wasn’t going anywhere.
“Let’s wait, let’s wait,” he told his men. He reconnoitered, determine the building was empty, and only then did they vent the fire and douse it.
“They still talk about it,” he said, “’Good job’.”
Asked why he thinks he got the job, he answers “training and education,” and “work ethic.”
And he’ll need it. The department answers 2,700 calls a year. Of those, 90 percent are EMT calls, but there are 12-16 “substantial fires” a year.
While Pat Pidgeon enters this new phase of his career, he still has two sons in school. The younger, Matthew, 17, is an OHS junior. The elder, Ryan, 19, is at Onondaga Community College, studying... fire-prevention technology.
The legacy continues.

Michael Getman, who chairs the Fox Hospital board of directors, has been nominated to the Bassett Healthcare board as part of an affiliation agreement that goes into effect Jan. 1.
The agreement also adds two Bassett nominees to the Fox board: Nicholas Nicoletta, Bassett CFO, and Dr. Walter Franck, former Bassett chief of medicine.
It was announced Monday, Dec. 21, that each board had signed the necessary paperwork for the affiliation to happen.
Fox becomes the fifth hospital under Bassett’s umbrella in an eight-county service region.
Bassett will provide management and medical services. CEO President & CEO John Remillard continues in that role as a member of Bassett’s management team.
Fox Hospital remains an independent, certified Article 28 hospital corporation, and doctor continue as they are, either working for Fox on as independent practitioners with privileges.
It was also announced that Dr. Yoshiro Matsuo, formerly of Broome Oncology, is joining the Bassett Cancer Institute as a hematology and oncology specialist, assigned to Bassett’s 7 Associate Drive location in Oneonta until Foxcare renovations are complete.
When that happens, in early 2010, Bassett Heart Care Institute will assign two board-certified cardiologists.

The Seen, Unseen Gallery will open with the New Year, hosting its first reception 5:30-10 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, at 77 Main St.
The first show is “One By One,” 30 pieces, each by a different artist.
The event will culminate with “the first annual D-O parade,” said gallery proprietor Clint Henderson, where participants will march up Main Street for the downtown experience.
The parade will lead to the Foothills Performing Arts Center, which is hosting a New Year’s Eve party, 10:30 p.m.-2 p.m., with a DJ’s dance music and cash bar.
Henderson, a New Jersey native who operated an interior-design business with his brother in New York City before moving north, said “D-O” stands for “Destination Oneonta,” one way to think about the goal of redevelopment in the city’s center.

The New Orleans Hornets have donated a basketball signed by all team members and a pair of Dave West’s size 17 Nikes to the Laurens’ Sports Boosters annual raffle.
The Hornets’ GM and head coach, Jeff Bower, is married to Lisa Bower, a Laurens Central School grad and a member of its Sports Hall of Fame, according to the Boosters’ Jim Laing.
The $3 raffle tickets are available by calling Laurens Central School, 432-2050.
The winning ticket will be drawn Tuesday, Dec. 29, during the Pat Grasso Basketball Tournament.

“Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
“He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He
“Of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see:
“Evermore and evermore.”

So wrote Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (348-413 A.D.), some 1,600 years ago, not long after the Christian Church began to observe the incarnation – the celebration of Our Lord’s holy birth – the coming of God in human form.
For the first several hundred years of Christian faith Jesus’ birth was not considered of great significance. Every human being is born, and every human being dies. Jesus’ birth, and His death by crucifixion were not unusual.
It was His resurrection from the dead, His return to life, that was – and is – the great and unique proclamation of Christianity. Christian faith, worship and teaching literally rise and fall with the historical truth claim of the Church for 2,000 years: He is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia.”
If that is NOT true, nothing else matters. Certainly not His humble birth in a stable in census-crowded Bethlehem.
But if the resurrection IS true, then Jesus’ birth has eternal significance and deserves to be remembered and celebrated with reverent awe and abiding joy. And what better time than at the darkest time of the year, when our solar system’s sun is farthest away from those of us in the northern hemisphere (where Christianity originated), and the days are shortest?
What better time to celebrate the birthday not of an astronomical entity, but of the true Son of God who created every galaxy, star and planet?
The early Christians did not know (and did not need to care) precisely when Jesus was born. Most Bible scholars surmise He was probably born in the spring, when “shepherds were abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night” (Luke 2); a better time for the mass migration of travelers going to ancestral hometowns for Augustus Caesar’s census.
It was not primarily an historical date our Christian forbears were interested in, but a theological reality. God loves us so much that He entered human history in a human child: “by the power of the Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.”
These phrases, from one of the 3 great ecumenical creeds of the church, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (commonly called the Nicene Creed, dated 325 and 381 A.D.), expressed the fullness of Christian understanding in Prudentius’ time, that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior, the Chosen One.
He was, and is, fully God and fully human, from all eternity. He came to earth to save us from ourselves; He lives to open eternity to the whole of God’s beloved creation.
In the midst of the darkness of this world’s dreary oppressions: war, hunger, disease, disappointment and despair, the Church follows its Lord’s example by relieving the death-dealing of these enemies of humanity. And one weapon in the Church’s arsenal is certainly its hymns.
For 2 millennia Christians have sung their faith. We continue to do so powerfully at this time of the year. The Advent, Christmass and Epiphany carols, familiar and less so, boldly proclaim our faith in the God-child of the manger, echoing Prudentius’ ancient words:
“Let the heights of heaven adore Him; Angel hosts His praises sing;
“Pow’rs, dominions bow before Him and extol our God and King!
“Let no tongue on earth be silent, every voice in concert ring:
“Evermore and evermore…”
Blessed Christmass!

ONEONTA – One of the city’s most revered citizens, Ani P. Colone, 97, president of the Oneonta School and BOCES boards for many years, passed away Sunday, Dec. 20, at Fox Hospital.
Ani was born on Dec. 17, 1912, in Oneonta, the son of Frank and Lucia (Valentini) Colone. He was first married to Eva Jerome, who passed away in 1952. He then married Catherine Lynch in 1956; she passed away in 1987.
Ani was a member of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Oneonta.
He graduated from Oneonta High School with high honors. He studied architecture at RPI, ranking sixth in his class. He also attended Albany Law School and Hartwick College.
Ani Served on the city school board for 17 years. He was instrumental in building Oneonta’s modern school system, including construction of five new buildings.
An advocate of quality public education, Ani was a leader in developing BOCES, serving as a board member and president. He was Area 8 representative to the state School Board Association.
Involved in scouting, he served on the Eagle Board of Review for many years and received the coveted Silver Beaver Award.
He was active in the Sixth Ward Boosters Club, the Sixth Ward Athletic Club, the Italian-American Club, and the Oneonta Youth Board.
A baseball fan, he attended every Hall of Fame Induction ceremony for 50 years. And he was a recipient of the SUNY Oneonta Distinguished Citizen Award.
Ani cherished his American heritage and was a speaker to many Memorial Day ceremonies both in Oneonta and Cooperstown.
For 36 years, Ani was employed as a case worker for Otsego County Social Services. For 50 years, he worked parttime in Bresee’s Men’s shop, where he was noted for trademarked boutonnière and his welcoming personality.
Survivors include four children, Frank Colone and his wife, Peggy, of Saratoga Springs, Albert Colone and his wife, Diana, of Oneonta, Lucia Colone of Cooperstown, and Patrick Colone of Oneonta; his five grandchildren, Paul Colone, Lisa Colone, Christina Colone, Luke Colone and Gregory Colone; and two great-grandchildren, Ryan and Julia Colone.
Also, his brother, Enio Colone and his wife, Dolores, of Oneonta, several nieces, nephews, cousins, and many friends.
He was predeceased by his sisters, Alvira Colone, Ida Valensisi, Lisa Romiti and Ethel Sieder, and by his brother, Albert (Eddigate) Colone.
Calling hours were 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 22, at the Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home.
A Mass of Christian Burial was planned at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 23, at St. Mary’s Parish Center with the Very Rev. John Burns, officiating. Interment will be in the spring in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Emmons.
Memorial donations may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice. Condolences to the family may be made online at www.grummonsfuneralhome.com
Arrangements are with Lester R. Grummons Funeral Home.