Dave Hilton's Eulogy

  By Biddiford Fire Chief, Brother, Friend, Rick Plummer

David N Hilton November 17, 1960 - May 24, 2003
  Good afternoon… Mr. & Mrs. Hilton, Diane, Nick, Lora and Members of the York Village Fire Department. Deepest condolences from all of us.

  To all the Brother and Sister Firefighters and friends of Dave, I welcome you.

  We gather here to remember, pay tribute and to honor a truly unique, caring and devoted son, husband, father, a dear friend and colleague, a true Firefighter.

  Diane, thank you for letting me talk about our friend, Dave.

  Where do I start? Dave Hilton; Dave, Snowy, Aggie Portable or 92… I must tell you I feel uncomfortable standing here in dress uniform because that was not Dave--- He was, in fact, the exactly opposite; low key-jeans, tee shirt, and, of course, the ball cap. He always had a pager and radio attached at the hip, always ready to respond day or night. Dave didn't like being around crowds, or being in the lime light or as he would say, “the City”. I have known Dave for over 20 years. He hadn't changed during that whole time; Dave was in fact Dave no matter what. He never did things just to fit in; he was just Dave and I admire him for that.

  He and I shared a lot over the years-our love of winter and snowmobiling-July and August, we dreamed of a snowstorm. Country Music, the Fire Dept, radios. We shared many other things as well, but this about Dave.

  Dave loved many things. First, his family, which he was extremely proud of, starting with his parents, Alva and Janet Hilton, His wife Di, a public Safety Dispatcher, his daughter Lora still in High school his son, Nick, also a Proud York Firefighter. Dave loved the Fire Department, of course his radios, old bottles, postcards, searching old dumps, digging a few clams and I could go on and on.

  Dave was a true Mainer and very proud of it. He enjoyed talking with the old timers and enjoyed stories about yesteryear.
  He liked old things and old times; bottles, Fire Department memorabilia, post cards and life as it used to be in general. …………He and Diane started their enterprising business called “DNH Collectibles”. He sold old bottles, postcards. And was very successful at it. He was very knowledgeable about old bottles and their value. Dave enjoyed his yearly camping trips to Moosehead Lake in Rockwood with his parents…. He really enjoyed spending time in Moosehead with his family…He would always check in on the radio as he got back into range to see what burned while he was away. He would tell me “I love it up there and I am moving up there someday... To hell with the city and the flatlander tourists!”

  Dave was also thrifty, as I said a true Mainer. One day I was at their house and Diane was rolling newspapers and taping them up into logs. I said, “what is that for?” He said, with a profound look “woodstove!”. I said, “woodstove!” with a puzzled look-He said, “Ya…. To stoke her up-free wood, you fool!”---Ahhh. …. Of course, he was talking on the Southern Maine Radio while Diane was doing the work rolling the papers.

  Speaking of Southern Maine, we had talked for several months about the fire buff radio system in Boston called “citywide”. One day in September of 1991, we decided to travel to the City…. Boston. Of course, I drove, and we had a long talk with the boys at Citywide Radio and alcom radio. We were on our way! On the way back, we said, “We could do that!” so for the next couple of months we planned and talked to New Hampshire Statewide Notification for advice and guidance. In January of 1992, Southern Maine Fire Notification Association went on the air on a rented repeater with six members. Dave and I flipped a coin as to who would be the first President, and of course, I lost, and became the first President. We all know that Dave put hours and hours into the Association and became the next President of Southern Maine. There are so many stories I could tell about Southern Maine and Dave. There were the antenna escapades on Mt. Aggie, on top of the fire tower, with John Chamblee on the roof and the rest of us, Lindy Higgins, Bill Paisley, Steve Felker, Steve Harding, and other members of Southern Maine, on the cat-walk trying to hold the antenna and John from blowing off the roof, with the temperature around zero degrees with the wind at 40 MPH. It seemed the antenna never broke down during the warm weather! Then Dave would do some testing and talk to people from afar, give his stamp of approval and all would be good again, and we would go home happy. We always seemed to have fun, or we thought it was fun?? !! Times were tough when we first started; a light bulb in the repeater to keep it warm in the winter to keep the squealing down and a fan in the tower in the summer, and those dreaded power outages that would put us off the air. But we got through it and now we own three top-notch repeaters. I was Town Manager in Milton for a while and we were able to get a repeater on Tenerrif Mt. Ch 3, with the help of Dave and Milton Chief Andy Lucier, another dear friend of many of us. Dave's pursuit for wider radio coverage never stopped, Dave worked with just about every other notification system in the country to get a reciprocal agreement and was successful. Dave was very instrumental and proud of the Association's accomplishments. Dave we all thank you!!!

  Dave loved the fire tower…. Mt. A…. Aggie…..The tower, or Agamenticus. We have all heard him, day after day, sign on “ Agamenticus Fire tower on the air, on Seacoast.” Dave started with the tower at age 9, with then tower watchman, John Chamblee. He followed through with his love for the tower through the seventies, even in High School, where he would spend time with watchman, Chris Balentine, now York Chief Balentine. Chief Balentine's wife would pick Dave up at the York High School and drop him off at the tower, as it was too far for him to ride his bike. Dave spent hours up there as a kid. It didn't take Dave long to be a watchman, and a great one at that.

  I too, would go up to learn the ropes, but this time it would be from Dave. He would keep that eagle eye on alert, and say, “there's a smoke!” I would say, “what smoke?” He could see smoke with the naked eye that I couldn't see with binoculars. He would get a line on the smoke and cross it with Blue Job, Ossipee, Mt. Hope or Warner Hill Towers and sure enough, pinpoint the woodsfire. He knew every landmark roof, antenna, and smoke stack that existed. Dave did have his occasional problems while in the tower…. One day I received a phone call around five p.m. asking me what I was doing. It was Dave; he said, “can you come up to the tower?”. I asked was there a problem with the repeater? He said, with a pause, “ahhh, no ahhh I'm locked in the tower!” I immediately started to laugh and said I would be right up. He said “DON'T say anything on the radio!”. It seems, earlier that day, North Berwick was looking for a smoke so Dave hastily ran up to the tower to get a fix on the smoke for them. In his haste, he forgot to tie up the hasp that kept the trap door from locking. When he went to leave, he found himself locked in! Those of you who have worked the tower know exactly what I'm talking about. I know I learned a valuable lesson that day, at his expense! Retired Eliot Chief, Dick Wood AKA Chief Brown, in his memories to Dave wrote, “He liked to call me with a smoke check at mealtime. He was able to put you within a few yards of the smoke and most of the time, he had you in the driveway of the house. It was he and Plummer who started the “Chief Brown” thing, and I'm still not sure which one to blame.” Chief, I guess you will never know !!! Dave dedicated much of his life to the Fire Tower cause, and because of him, we now have three manned towers in York County, the only towers manned in Maine. Dave was also very proud to be the author of his book titled “From York to the Allagash-Forest Fire Lookouts of Maine”. He also maintained the Forest Fire Lookouts of Maine website, and was a member of the National Forest Fire Lookouts Association.

  Another love of Dave's, and probably second after his family, was the Fire Department. Specifically, York Village Fire Department, or as he would say “Yawk”. I guess it's spelled Yawk, or sometimes, The Village. Dave was a true firefighter, Lt., and motor pump operator, or MPO, from 1979 until his death. “Yawk” relied on driver six (Dave Hilton) to respond the 4 engine on its daily runs. Dave rarely missed a call. A better MPO you won't find, afterall, Engine 4 was his baby. York and Kittery have been very busy these past few months and Dave was the MPO on most every fire. He did his job, did it well, made sure 4 was ready for service and then went home a happy camper. He loved all of it. Dave was also very proud of and was an important part of the York canteen. Whenever we had a fire in Portsmouth or anywhere else this side of the Mississippi, Dave, Bruce Woodward and crew would be there day or night, and stay as long as it took. We were happy to see that rig show up!! Dave and Bruce Woodward are now manning another Canteen and we know what a great job the 2 of them will do!! Although with those 2 aboard,??? Could be trouble!! Dave was a very proud and dedicated member of the York Fire Department for over 24 years. Dave has had an impact on many of us and many Fire Departments throughout New England. He knew most every firefighter or every Chief in Maine and New Hampshire. He was, by all means, a Fire Service Ambassador. Retired Hampton Chief Sullivan says, “if you look up Fire Service dedication in the dictionary, Dave's picture would be there”. Rochester Chief Dellner says “they don't come any better than Dave Hilton” He also says “ I told him he has more radios and technical equipment than many small countries around the world, certainly more than our Pentagon”. There are many condolences on the York Fire Department website from Rhode Island to Northern Maine. People he knew and some that he didn't. This speaks for itself about who Dave Hilton was.

  A couple more memories I have are dragging him to a couple of Country Music concerts; the music he loved-the crowds he hated. And I think all of us will remember going to Flo's with him for that all-so-famous hot dog. We all know that Dave had the highest antenna and the sharpest scanner and could always hear things the rest of us couldn't.

  Well, Dave, my friend, I guess you now have the highest antenna. I know you're listening and won't miss a fire. I know I speak for all of us; you will always be greatly missed, but never replaced. When I'm at a fire, I'll be thinking of you, my brother, you are now with our other lost heroes and in very good company. Until we meet again, keep your watchful eye upon your parents, Diane, Nick and Lora, as we will be too.

  Goodbye for now and God Bless, my dear friend 92, I love you, 91 standing by.

  Rick Plummer
  5/28/03