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St. James FD-Firefighter Theodore Ellis passes at age 101

September 14, 1988. Theodore Edward Ellis, thought to be one of the oldest active volunteer firefighters in the US died. Ellis, 101 came to St. James in 1907, built a house there and lived in it for the next 78 years. He was president of the St. James school board in the 1920s, when it raised money to build a new community elementary school.

Ellis was a charter member of the Eagle Hook and Ladder Company and served as its first Captain when the first volunteer unit was organized in St. James in 1922. He was a charter member of what would become the St. James Fire Department. Born in London in 1886, Ellis worked as a contractor and in 1930, he took a job as a foreman of the Smithtown Highway Department. From there he went to work in the Riverhead County jail and became a Deputy Sheriff. After he retired, he became a Smithtown bingo inspector. When he celebrated his 92nd birthday, the Smithtown Town Board presented him with a special proclamation. In 1981, in appreciation of his work with the St. James Fire Department, he was made an honorary Chief. Services were held at the St. James Episcopal Church with burial in the churchyard cemetary.

Theodore Edward Ellis lived to be 101, and wherever one turns in St. James – from the streetlamps to the fire hall and from the elementary school to the curbs on Lake Avenue – there is a legacy of his life.

Ellis, who until this summer attended monthly meetings of the St. James Fire Department, where he served as honorary chief, died Thursday in St. John’s Hospital in Smithtown after a brief illness. A special firematic service is set for this evening to honor the man who was thought to be one of the oldest active volunteer firemen in the United States.

When Ellis arrived in St. James in 1907, he was a carpenter with dreams of making a new life in his adopted country. By 1910, he had built a two-story house that would be his home for the next 78 years.

“He was a man who had an intense love for living, he was always so full of life,” said Robert Wertz, the Republican assemblyman from Smithtown. Wertz said that as recently as 1 1/2 years ago, Ellis was lobbying him to support special tax legislation for the state’s volunteer firemen.

His list of accomplishments included community service. He was president of the St. James school board in the 1920s when it raised money to build a new community elementary school. He was a charter member of the Eagle Hook and Ladder Company, and served as its first captain, when the first volunteer fire department was organized in St. James. In 1922, he was a charter member of what became the St. James Fire Department.

He was born in London on Dec. 20, 1886, and, as a teenager, came to America to visit an uncle who lived in Mount Vernon, N.Y. By 1906, he was back working as an apprentice carpenter for his uncle, who, according to Ellis’ son Henry, decided to relocate to St. James after purchasing a series of plots to build homes.

“Where my father built his house, south of the Long Island Rail Road tracks, it was called Boomertown, although few people remember that name,” Henry Ellis said. Until the Depression, Ellis worked as a contractor, specializing in home restorations.

In the 1930s, Ellis took a job as foreman of the Smithtown Highway Department, and eventually went to work in Riverhead at the county jail and become a deputy sheriff until his retirement in the early 1960s. Not willing to retire, he became Smithtown’s bingo inspector for several years.

In 1979, Ellis told a reporter that when he arrived in St. James, it was more than just rural: “Plainly speaking, it was rabbit country.”

At the time of his arrival, St. James was a summer community that boasted among its residents New York City Mayor William Gaynor and famed architect Stanford White.

When he celebrated his 92nd birthday, the Smithtown Town Board marked the occasion with a special proclamation. Longtime town clerk Victor Liss said, “Nobody in St. James cared as much about his community, and especially its fire department as Ted did . . . he joined everything, and did everything. He founded the Republican club, and later the St. James Civic Association. He was even a Boy Scout troop leader . . . he was really special.”

His daughter, Dorothea Johnson, of Santa Barbara, Calif, said he maintained his vibrant nature through a century of living. “When his granddaughter got married on July 4, 1986, he was 99 years old, and all he wanted to do is dance.”

In 1981, as recognition of his commitments to the fire department, which he had served as both captain and commissioner, he was named honorary chief.

“It’s funny, but I think he was too busy with too many things to ever have been chief when he was younger,” said current chief Edward Springer.

In addition to his son and a daughter, he is survived by another son, Edward of Melbourne, Fla.; another daughter, Cecelia Lloyd of Fenton, Va.; 16 grandchildren; and 33 great-grandchildren.

Services will be tomorrow at 11 a.m. at St. James Episcopal Church, with burial in the churchyard cemetery. Visiting today is 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the St. James Funeral Home.

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