By Jospeh R. Perone
The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
Copyright 2007 Newark Morning Ledger Co.
All Rights Reserved
ELIZABETH, N.J. — A month ago, Frank Fortuna, a longtime fire captain in Elizabeth, went on his last call with sirens wailing and lights flashing.
He was 96.
Mr. Fortuna, who lived in a center for senior citizens, had befriended some members of Hillsborough Volunteer Fire Company No. 1. A radio call came in while they were visiting him one day about a small fire in the Somerset County township. The firemen asked Mr. Fortuna if he wanted to come along, and he did.
He remained in the truck while the firefighters put out the flames, and he thoroughly enjoyed being on the scene once again, according to his son, Frank Fortuna Jr.
“I called him that night and asked how things were going, and he said, ‘I was on a fire engine today,’” his son recalled. “I thought he was losing it. But it turned out he was right.”
Frank A. Fortuna Sr. spent 36 years with the Elizabeth Fire Department, retiring in 1974 as a captain. He died Friday at Summerville Assisted Living in Hillsborough.
He had always wanted to be a fireman, and he kept a daily log of every blaze he helped extinguish. The fires that stood out for him involved three plane crashes in Elizabeth during the 1950s, according to his son.
“He was involved in search and rescue on those,” Fortuna said.
During one crash in 1952, Robert Patterson, who had served as the first U.S. undersecretary of war, died along with 28 others. A decorated veteran hero of World War I and a former judge, Patterson was a key player in mobilizing U.S. armed forces during World War II as part of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations.
Most of all, Mr. Fortuna enjoyed driving fire engines up Elizabeth Avenue during summer parades. “He used to stop the fire engine, and come over to kiss my mother,” Frank Fortuna Jr. said.
Born in Elizabeth, he lived in that city most of his life before moving to New Port Richey, Fla., in 1974. He moved to Hillsborough in 2004.
He was a life member of the FMBA Local 9, the New Jersey State Firemen’s Association, the Exempt Firemen’s Association, the Polish Falcons in Elizabeth and Florida, and a retired member of Local 2040 in Elizabeth and the International Association of Firefighters. He was a former member of St. Patrick’s and Saint Genevieve’s churches in Elizabeth, and of Our Lady Queen of Peace in New Port Richey, Fla.
A service was held yesterday at the Hillsborough Funeral Home followed by a Mass at Mary Mother of God Church in Hillsborough. He will be buried in Florida.
He was predeceased by his wife, Anna M. (Golas) Fortuna, in 1993. In addition to his son, he is survived by a daughter, Dorisann Kalescky; six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hillsborough Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, 20 Equator Ave., Flagtown, N.J. 08821 or to PanCan (Pancreatic Cancer), 2141 Rosecians Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, Calif. 90245 or to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 246 Monmouth Road, Oakhurst, N.J. 07755.