Gateway Press Wednesday, July 20, 1983
Everyone clears the way for ‘Big Joe’
By Donna Furman
Gateway Press Staff Writer
When “Big Joe” speeds through the city’s streets all the other Streetsboro Motorists step on their brakes and let him pass. Police officers sit idly by in their cars while Joe whizzes past, 15, 20, or 30 miles over the speed limit.
Who is this mysterious Racer X who is so respected by everyone? It’s none other than the city’s fire truck that was named after retired Fire Chief Joe Goray.
Goray, who retired from his post in 1979, was one of the original founders of the Streesboro Township Fire Department.
Goray explained that, prior to the establishment of the fire department in 1948, Streetsboro Township had to call the Aurora Fire Department for every fire.
“Each one of their calls cost the city $50. Sometimes it would only be a junker on fire but we still had to pay the fifty bucks.
“In those days everybody knew everybody else,” Goray said. “A bunch of us guys got together and started talking about starting our own fire department. So we did it.”
Goray recalled that when the first fire truck was purchased half the townspeople showed up to look at it. For about a year the truck was stationed in a garage at the old Cobb’s restaurant where the Surrey Restaurant now stands.
In 1949 the volunteers began construction on the fire house on SR 14. “A lot of the local businesses donated materials. We cut the lumber at the Brewster lumber yard next door.”
Dana Brewster was appointed by the township trustees to serve as the first fire chief.
“Generally we had a roster of about 25 volunteers,” Goray said.
In 1960, when Brewster resigned, Goray was appointed as fire chief. For 19 years Goray juggled his responsibilities as chief with his duties as owner of Joe’s Auto Service in Streetsboro.
“I always felt that my responsibility as fire chief was just as great as that to my business. A lot of times I would have customers waiting for me while I was out on a call.”
Goray said that most of the blazes in the town at that time were barn, house and grass fires since there weren’t that many businesses then.
“After we set up the fire department we waited for months before we had our first call and our first house fire happened to be at one of the firemens’ houses.”
Looking back, Goray said that his years on the force were marked with tragic and rewarding experiences but he added that there were humorous incidences too.
“When Earl Root was a township trustee he used to stop by the fire house from time to time to inspect the equipment. One time he called me and told me he just drove the blanket-blank truck through the blanket-blank door.
I couldn’t believe him at first. I said ‘you’re kidding right.’ But when I went there to check it out, sure enough, he drove the truck through the door. I guess he didn’t realize the truck was in gear. WE all got a pretty big laugh at that.”
Goray’s son, Larry, who is now First Captain, said he remembered a time when the crew was called to a house fire on Frost Road.
“In those days there wasn’t a law requiring that addresses be clearly posted on the mailboxes. We drove up and down the street trying to find the right house.
There was a guy standing on the road, calm as could be, watching us drive back and forth. Finally we stopped and asked him if he knew which house was on fire. He said ‘this house.’ It turned out that a wastepaper basket was on fire.”
The volunteer fire department has changed Joe Goray first joined the staff. The volunteers are paid six dollars an hour for the time they spend putting out fires.
There are now seven major pieces of equipment including Big Joe. Larry Goray, said the truck was the last major piece of equipment purchased by his father, so the department named the lime yellow monster after Joe Goray.
Now that the senior Goray is retired, he said he spends most of his time “puttering around” on his five acres of farm land in Freedom Township.
Although Joe Goray’s not around to help put out fires anymore, he’s not likely to be forgotten at the fire station. It’s hard not to notice a 16-ton truck bearing the name Big Joe.