Family, friends, neighbors, town and county officials and firefighters from all over Lincoln County gathered Sunday afternoon, July 11, to pay tribute to Ron Pendleton at a retirement party at the Bristol Consolidated School.
Pendleton joined the Bristol Fire Department in 1954, became Assistant Fire Chief in 1963 and Fire Chief in 1989. He stepped down as Chief in 2009, but remains an active firefighter.
Whitefield Fire Chief and Director of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Tim Pellerin gave the first in a series of heartfelt speeches praising Pendleton’s service to the area.
Pellerin opened his remarks with the reading of a lighthearted, “fictitious” letter from a “Mrs. Smith” describing a chaotic fire scene early in Pendleton’s career.
The letter describes firemen rushing around a Bristol fire scene. A ladder gets stuck in a tree and one fireman gets stuck in a small closet. Firemen strand one man on the roof and accidentally drop a sofa from the second story on the Assistant Fire Chief.
All the while, according to the fictitious narrator, Pendleton kept dropping his radio and frantically waving his arms, until, as the firemen prepare to leave, one of the tankers rolls down a hill into Pendleton’s truck.
In keeping with the mood, Pellerin and Deputy EMA Director Kim Kaiser presented Pendleton with a framed photo of a fire truck stuck in the mud at a practice burn in South Bristol.
Turning serious, Pendleton expressed the community’s gratitude for Pendleton’s service, as well as that of his family. “I can’t thank Ron, neither can you without thanking the Pendleton family,” Pellerin said.
Pendleton’s three sons, Jared, Brad and Scott, all joined the fire service at the age of 16, Pellerin said. Jeri Pendleton, Ron Pendleton’s wife, has been Chief of Bristol’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) since its inception 27 years ago.
“Many nights Ron, with the whole family in tow, would drive through the streets of Bristol to respond to a call,” Pellerin said. “Chief Pendleton never complained nor did he ever expect accolades for his tireless efforts.”
Pellerin and Kaiser also presented Pendleton with a plaque and framed photo from the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency commemorating his service.
John Blagdon, a former Assistant Fire Chief in Wiscasset who described himself as a personal friend of Pendleton’s for “many years,” spoke next. Blagdon said he met Pendleton when, in his job as a salesman, he would call on Pendleton at his business, Pendleton Heating and Plumbing.
For a long time, Blagdon said, Pendleton bought little or nothing from him until one day, with Ron Pendleton out on a call, Jeri Pendleton answered the door with a hair dryer in hand. The Pendleton’s pipes were frozen. Blagdon helped Jeri Pendleton thaw the pipes.
“After that Ron started buying more from me,” Blagdon said. “I think maybe Jeri was the boss of the company and Ron was just a helper.”
Over the years, Blagdon and his wife, Gertie, developed a close friendship with Ron and Jeri Pendleton, vacationing together on several occasions in Scotland and the Virgin Islands.
Blagdon related several humorous vacation stories. The island of St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands, teems with cockroaches, he said. To keep the pests away from food, people often store groceries in the oven.
“Ron, being a fireman and a chief at that time would know better than to turn the oven on with all those combustible materials in there, but he did,” Blagdon said.
Eventually discovering his mistake, Blagdon said, “Ron did his thing… He saved us and then he blamed it on me.”
On vacation in Scotland, the families had a different kind of adventure. While researching Pendleton’s genealogy in a small village, some local residents pointed out a nearby tree they called the “hanging tree,” Blagdon said.
“It seems that Ron’s relatives, most of them, were sheep rustlers and not well thought of in the community,” Blagdon said. “So we left town.”
Mike Witte spoke on behalf of the town of Bristol. “Ron and I been friends a good 25 years,” he said. During his years as Bristol’s Animal Control Officer, the fire department often came to Witte’s aid, he said. “The night the bull was loose on the Harrington Road,” Witte said, Pendleton and other firefighters helped him locate the animal and return him to his owner.
On another occasion, several horses were spotted running free through town. “We herded the horses from Rt. 130 in Bristol Mills to New Harbor,” Witte said.
“I’m very much honored to be his friend,” Witte said. “Wherever he goes he generates stories.”
Witte also spoke fondly of Jeri Pendleton. “Behind every good Fire Chief is a good Fire Chief’s wife,” he said. Witte presented the couple with a framed photo from the town picturing both in their chief’s uniforms.
Jared Pendleton, Ron Pendleton’s son and a firefighter for 28 years, presented his father with an ax, custom-painted with the Bristol Fire and Rescue logo and the inscription “Chief Ron Pendleton – 1989-2009.”
Ron Pendleton briefly took the podium next.
“Thank you very much,” Pendleton said, expressing his gratefulness to “Mike and his wife and all the ladies that helped out.”
“I’ve enjoyed this,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed serving the people of Bristol and I’ll probably continue to do so for a few years longer.”
After Pendleton spoke, Bob Tibbetts, Chairman of the Bristol Board of Selectmen, asked those in attendance to come forward with their thanks and remembrances.
Bristol resident Richard Parent quickly rose. “He saved my a–, him, Jeri and Nate when I had a heart attack,” Parent said.
Matt Gomes and Dan Skillin presented Pendleton with an “award of appreciation” for his help in combating forest fires before Tibbetts closed the ceremony with a final word of thanks.
“Thank you very much,” he said. “We’re eternally grateful.”
Before and after the ceremony, attendees milled around, many stopping to view a flat screen television displaying photos of Pendleton as a baby, pictures from his high school yearbook, in which he received recognition for “most school spirit” and “most athletic,” and at his Sept. 15, 1962 wedding to Jeri.
The slide show also included photos of Pendleton with each of his sons, in uniform in Korea and at work at countless fire scenes. Put together in apparently chronological order, later photos showed Pendleton with Governor John Baldacci and Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Some photos caught Pendleton in leisurely moments – on vacations, playing golf or in various costumes at Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties.
“Ron’s very proud of his Scottish heritage,” bagpiper Jim MacKenzie said. “He’s the one that got me to play on top of the [Pemaquid Point] lighthouse for the Sept. 11, 2002 ceremony and again for the dedication of the Maine quarter.”
“They are a real treasure to this community. Both of them,” MacKenzie said.
Mary Ellen Witte coordinated the event with the help of fellow volunteers. “It was such a community effort,” she said. “I just can’t tell you what an uplifting experience it was and how gracious everyone was and how happy they were to do this… There were just so many people that gave so much and Ron deserved it.”
