Kevin Regan (right) looks over a 1996 firefighters’ calendar with retired fire Capt. Dan Wojik in 1995. (Photo ©1995 Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – During the first formal session of 2015 today, the Massachusetts House Of Representatives will be holding a moment of silence for fallen Westfield firefighter Kevin Regan, a rare honor bestowed upon a select few.
State Rep. John Velis, D-Westfield, said yesterday that he put in a request with the office of Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, Monday and sent him a biography of Regan, 62, a 43-year veteran of the Westfield Fire Department who was killed on Cape Cod on December 27 and who was also active in various community organizations and a vocal adovcate for retirement services throughout his life.
Upon hearing Regan’s remarkable life story, DeLeo obliged the request and approved a moment of silence for the beloved firefighter today.
Kevin Regan, then president of the Westfield firefighters’ union, presents a miniature firefighter’s badge to former firefighter Robert Derock at his retirement party in 1993. (Photo ©1993 Carl E. Hartdegen)
“What is so interesting and such an honor for Kevin is that this honor is bestowed upon current or former state reps who pass away or people in uniform who are killed in the line of duty,” explained Velis yesterday. “What caused them to deviate from protocol was that Kevin was a firefighter for 43 years and that he was so active in politics, at the local, state and national level, that he was so involved in retirement issues for the state… caused them to say ‘this is someone we absolutely need to recognize with a formal moment of silence.'”
DeLeo expressed his condolences to the Regan family, the Westfield Fire Department and the city of Westfield in a statement yesterday and said that Kevin Regan “exemplified the ideals of public service and commitment to his community.”
“That Firefighter Regan wore Badge #1 speaks volumes to his character. Through his admirable tenure and unyielding efforts to improve the fire department and the town, Firefighter Regan touched so many lives and has forever changed Westfield,” said DeLeo in a statement. “In honoring Firefighter Regan with a moment of silence in the House Chamber, it is my hope that we will look to his legacy as we recall our duty as public servants.”
Asked about his take on the House’s gesture, Patrick Murphy, past president for the Sons of Erin, the Irish social club of which Regan was a founding member, was with Regan in Yarmouth at the Sons of Erin Cape Cod on the evening of his death and fondly remembered him as a “fireman’s fireman” who loved his family, his job and his Hibernian heritage.
“He was a great man for the firefighters. It was his life,” said Murphy. “There’s so much to say about the guy. He loved the Irish people, his fellow firefighters and worked hard for them.”
When informed of Boston’s plan to honor Regan, Westfield Deputy Fire Chief Mark Devine cited Regan’s legacy of not only serving the people of Westfield, but also serving working firefighters and retired people around the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“He was well known within the Professional Firefighters Union, he was past president for years, past president for the MACRS (Massachusetts Association of Contributory Retirement Systems)… he deserves those accolades,” said Devine.
