By Kim Ring
The Telegram and Gazette
SHREWSBURY, Mass. — A few years ago, you could coax a smile out of Fire Chief Robert I. Gaucher by asking about his cat, Mr. Boots.
“He had many cats over the years,” Capt. James M. Vuona said, a crack in his voice as he talked about the man who’d been his captain when he joined the department 17 years ago. “He was a rough, gruff guy on the outside, but when it came to his granddaughter and animals, he had a soft side.”
Chief Gaucher, 63, died yesterday after being hospitalized because of a recently developed medical condition.
“He’d been sick the last few weeks,” Capt. Vuona said. “But we were expecting him to make a full recovery and return to work, even before summer.”
Then the chief’s health quickly took a turn for the worse, and yesterday Capt. Vuona was notifying other fire departments and preparing to meet with the chief’s family to plan a fitting funeral.
When he took the chief’s job in June 2008, it was obvious to everyone that Chief Gaucher cared deeply about Shrewsbury, Town Manager Daniel J. Morgado said last night. The chief already had 31 years of experience and had worked his way up the ranks, always choosing to stay in his hometown. He was raised in Shrewsbury, played high school football here and laughed when some of his old friends reminisced about their glory days, Capt. Vuona said.
He was a man of few words. Perhaps his longest talk was a 30-minute presentation he made to the Finance Committee in February, Mr. Morgado said.
“It was a wonderful presentation,” Mr. Morgado said. “He was highly respected by the residents of town and by the other department heads.”
Capt. Vuona said the chief was the type who liked to see starched shirts and clean-shaven faces. Even at fire scenes he was “in control, collected.” He encouraged his firefighters to get an education, and he sometimes showed his dry sense of humor.
“You never knew if he was joking with you,” Capt. Vuona said. While the chief may have laughed about them behind closed doors, he rarely took part in the typical firehouse pranks.
And even though he’d only been chief a short time, he was looking at retirement. When he turned 65 in May 2011, he’d have been mandated to turn in his badge.
“This was the last step up the ladder and he knew it was short term, but he would retire as chief,” Capt. Vuona said.
While he was a “big, tough guy” the chief cared deeply about animals, once calling an outlying station during a raging storm and asking Capt. Vuona to go to Route 20 and help a turtle get safely across the road.
The chief kept few pictures on his desk, but his granddaughter’s face smiled out from a frame there and he lit up when she stopped by the station for a visit, Capt. Vuona recalled.
The chief worked out, swam and seemed to be a big, healthy man, Capt. Vuona said. And news of his death has left the department and townspeople stunned.
“It was a shock to all of us,” Mr. Morgado said. “He was a great guy.”
The chief leaves his wife and two daughters, Capt. Vuona said. Funeral arrangements were incomplete last night.
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