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Fire Chief Jason Gilliland had just begun his remarks at Waterside Cemetery on Sunday when a woman in the crowd collapsed in the heat. Firefighters in dress uniform broke from their formation and went to her, the kind of response the morning’s speakers had gathered to honor, playing out in front of them. She recovered.
The interruption came during Firefighters Memorial Sunday, where Marblehead’s firefighters, their families and town officials gathered at the department’s burial plot to remember two retired members who died over the past year. A wreath ringed with white blossoms and a deep red ribbon, ready to be leaned against the firefighters monument.
Mark Tentindo, president of Firefighters Local 2043, welcomed the crowd to the firefighters plot and named the men at the center of the morning: retired firefighters Jerry Tucker and Jim Devine. Tentindo invited Monsignor Timothy Moran of Star of the Sea, the department’s chaplain, to deliver the invocation.
Gilliland recounted the men’s service records. James W. Devine died Aug. 3, 2025, at age 92. Gilliland said Devine served the department for 31 years until his retirement Oct. 14, 1997, and had served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War before joining the department.
Tucker died Sept. 19, 2025, at age 85. Gilliland said Tucker spent six years as a Marblehead police officer before his appointment to the fire department Sept. 15, 1976, and devoted 26 years to the department before retiring in 1996. He served in the U.S. Army before his public safety career.
Gilliland also acknowledged the death of former selectman Harry Christensen, who he said was not a member of the department but had long been part of its extended family, a familiar presence at swearing-in ceremonies, retirement dinners and the department’s annual Sept. 11 memorial service.
The chief closed by reading a poem about Devine written by a colleague on his retirement, a comic tribute to a firefighter so reliable the crew knew his whereabouts at 6 o’clock every morning. “Some say he’s coarse, and some say he’s just fine,” the verse began, before recounting how Devine slipped away from a predawn call so as not to miss his daily routine. “In closing, and I’ve been waiting a long time to do this,” Gilliland told the crowd before he began.
Tentindo used his own remarks to describe the pressures on the department in 2026. He named occupational cancer from exposure to toxic smoke and chemicals, post-traumatic stress, staffing shortages, mandatory overtime and rising call volume. He also referred to recent local friction over town budgets and public safety.
“When I’m out in the community, I hear a very different story,” Tentindo said, describing residents who stop him to recount firefighters comforting families during medical emergencies and checking on elderly neighbors. “Very few of those moments make the news. Most never do,” he said. He also recognized Lt. Doug Knowles as the department’s first employee of the month.
State Rep. Jenny Armini told the crowd she was speaking with personal gratitude. She said she fell on her icy front steps in January and broke her ankle, and credited the department with her recovery. “I’m only standing on two feet because of the skill, kindness and humor of the Marblehead department,” she said.
Armini turned to the deaths of Boston firefighters, recalling Lt. Edward Walsh and firefighter Michael Kennedy, who died in a 2014 fire, and a commission formed after that tragedy whose recommendations passed the Massachusetts House the prior week.
Select Board member Jim Zisson described his own car accident the prior year, after which he was hospitalized and underwent emergency surgery before being sworn in. He said one of the responders had also helped him 15 years earlier when he broke his ankle. Zisson then pointed the crowd toward the present, citing a fatal fire the prior week at the Glen in neighboring Swampscott, to which Marblehead firefighters responded. “I know the Marblehead g was there in her final moments,” he said.
Select Board member Dan Fox thanked the firefighters directly. “Your courage, your dedication and your sense of duty do not go unnoticed,” Fox said.
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