Ex-Chief & Honorary Commissioner Frank Abrams Answers Last Alarm

Story by  Ex Steven Grogan, Photos by Brian Grogan

 

Ex-Chief and Honorary Commissioner James Francis Abrams, better known to us as just Frank, answered his last alarm on March 9th, 2018.   His funeral was on March 15, 2018 at St Raymond’s Catholic Church in East Rockaway.   Frank, a US Army veteran, was given military honors after the church service.  The American flag on his casket was folded by US Army soldiers and presented to Frank’s widow, Sue. 

 

Frank, age 75, joined Vulcan Company of the Lynbrook Fire Department in 1966 at the age of 23.  He was elected Second Lieutenant in 1972 and served as Captain from 1976 to 1977.   As an Ex-Captain he continued to serve Vulcan Company as company secretary and company trustee. Frank was also the Captain of the Lynbrook Tumblers tournament team.  A team that won the Fourth Battalion and other local tournaments under his command.  He was also chairman of the department’s picnic committee and the purchasing committee. 

 

In 1988, Frank won the election for third assistant chief.  He climbed through the chief’s rank to become the Chief Engineer of the Lynbrook Fire Department in 1991.  In 1993, Frank joined the Floodlight Unit.

 

Two years ago, on the 50^th Anniversary of his joining Vulcan Company and the Lynbrook Fire Department, Ex-Chief Frank Abrams was named an Honorary Commissioner at the department dinner with is family in attendance. 

 

As Chief Carl Lengel put it at his memorial service, Frank loved “what we do.  Fifty-two years of brotherhood and dedicated service to our department as well as all the residents of the Village of Lynbrook is his treasured legacy.”