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When Barry Sens wanted to join the Pittsford Fire Department in 1958, his friends say it was to join the baseball team. Though he wasn’t quite 18, the department knew they had a star athlete at their finger tips, fudging the numbers on his birthday to get him involved before the season started.
That led to a 53-year career in the Pittsford Fire Department.
“Barry always said he joined the Pittsford Fire Department so he could play baseball,” says longtime friend Pat Dwyer.
Sens passed away in July of this year, at the age of 72.
Sens lived his whole life in Pittsford, and his friends say that he was the consummate community supporter. Sens served as chief of the Pittsford Fire Department from 1977 to 1978. He was also the department’s fire commissioner for 33 years, from 1979 until May 2011. He was a life member of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, of which he was president of in 1987 and 1988 - an affiliation that gave him national recognition.
From many years in the Pittsford Fire Department, to working for the town’s highway department, to being a well-known face at athletic games, Sens loved Pittsford, his family, his friends and his fellow firefighters - and often showed it.
Bob Spiegel remembers seeing Sens at his own ball games in high school; Sens would come by to see him pitch. And when Spiegel’s daughter got involved in sports, Sens would be there to see her, too.
And it was Sens who started the tradition of bringing the fire truck down to the high school when teams won Section V games or championships, a practice that still goes on today.
Brother-in-law Greg Wegman says if it wasn’t for Barry, he never would’ve met his wife. He’d introduced the pair. Wegman remembers him as a practical joker, and a family man.
Friends say it meant the world to Sens that he got to meet his first grandchild, a boy named Lane, before he passed away - something he knew he’d had to do.
Near the end of his life, when it grew more difficult for him to make it out, friends wanted to ensure that he could still witness the things he enjoyed. Like the Pittsford Fire Department Band - the flagship of the department that Sens always enjoyed.
“They marched down the street and Barry sat out in his chair and he really got a kick out of that,” Dwyer says. “Barry knew how important that band is to the organization.”
When Barry Sens wanted to join the Pittsford Fire Department in 1958, his friends say it was to join the baseball team. Though he wasn’t quite 18, the department knew they had a star athlete at their finger tips, fudging the numbers on his birthday to get him involved before the season started.
That led to a 53-year career in the Pittsford Fire Department.
“Barry always said he joined the Pittsford Fire Department so he could play baseball,” says longtime friend Pat Dwyer.
Sens passed away in July of this year, at the age of 72.
Sens lived his whole life in Pittsford, and his friends say that he was the consummate community supporter. Sens served as chief of the Pittsford Fire Department from 1977 to 1978. He was also the department’s fire commissioner for 33 years, from 1979 until May 2011. He was a life member of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, of which he was president of in 1987 and 1988 - an affiliation that gave him national recognition.
From many years in the Pittsford Fire Department, to working for the town’s highway department, to being a well-known face at athletic games, Sens loved Pittsford, his family, his friends and his fellow firefighters - and often showed it.
Bob Spiegel remembers seeing Sens at his own ball games in high school; Sens would come by to see him pitch. And when Spiegel’s daughter got involved in sports, Sens would be there to see her, too.
And it was Sens who started the tradition of bringing the fire truck down to the high school when teams won Section V games or championships, a practice that still goes on today.
Brother-in-law Greg Wegman says if it wasn’t for Barry, he never would’ve met his wife. He’d introduced the pair. Wegman remembers him as a practical joker, and a family man.
Friends say it meant the world to Sens that he got to meet his first grandchild, a boy named Lane, before he passed away - something he knew he’d had to do.
Near the end of his life, when it grew more difficult for him to make it out, friends wanted to ensure that he could still witness the things he enjoyed. Like the Pittsford Fire Department Band - the flagship of the department that Sens always enjoyed.
“They marched down the street and Barry sat out in his chair and he really got a kick out of that,” Dwyer says. “Barry knew how important that band is to the organization.”
A symbolic move of the connection Sens had with his community - connections that will carry on in the future. Awards and scholarships are named in his honor, from when he was alive and posthumously, and there’s the many, many stories that those who knew him will always share.
Longtime friend Jim Burdett says Sens could bring people together like none other. He was the kind of guy who could make things happen.
“He had a great ability for taking one of us and saying, ‘I got an idea. I think maybe next year we should have a pig roast, we should have this or that,’ and he’d draw you in and encourage you. Barry was a great motivator who could make things happen,” Burdett said. “The rest is just history.”
