JAXRFA December 2010 member profile: William “Bill” Pate, 64

Bill graduated from Englewood in 1964. Bill and his wife Henrietta have been married for 39 years. Henrietta graduated from Terry Parker in 1971. They have a daughter, Michelle, 36 that lives in Tallahassee, Florida. Their son William Jereny, 33 travels a lot and calls no where home.

Bill joined the Fire Department in February 1969 and was assigned to
Engine 3 as a plugman. His first officer was Lt. Roy Wells. He left Eng. 3 and spent the next 7 1/2 years at Engine 16, Jacksonville International Airport Fire Department.

Bill and Ray Powell answered a call for a crash of an F102 south of Callahan in the deep woods off Lem Turner and were able to locate the wreckage while on foot. Arriving at the crash site they found that ammunition was going off inside the aircraft. After the incident the Fire
Department questioned the Florida Air National Guard as to why they were not told about the aircraft being hot.

Bill assigned to old Sta. 19 for the next 4 1/2 years and then promoted to Lt. and assigned to Sta. 14 for the next 10 1/2 years. While at Sta. 14 the largest fire he attended was at Lee High School in 1980. Bill also remembers the Stuart Petroleum fire as a real “doozie”.

Bill feels he was given a punishment transfer back to old Sta. 9 at 24th and Perry. After
a short time there he asked for a transfer and was sent to Engine 20. While at work one day Bill figured he was working every third day for $5 an hour over what his retirement would be,
decided to turn in his papers and retired in 1989.

Before he retired Bill purchased a 1935 White Fire Engine that he stills owns today.

Bill has had a number of hobbies during his career. His first was motorcycles and scooters.
At the age of 14 he purchased a 1955 Lim Beretta Scooter which he bought for $15 from deceased
Bo Hood.

Bill’s second favorite hobby is trains and music. Bill’s father was a railroad postal worker for over 30 years that ran mail from Jacksonville to St. Petersburg. Bill was always fascinated by the large hunks of steel known as train engines and how they worked. At the present time, Bill has an extensive train collection set up in his garage that he is very proud of. All of Bill’s trains are voice activated commands that he controls at the push of a button. Bill has joined some railroad buffs in Bostwick, Fl to build tracks that are capable of carrying man-sized operable trains.

Bill’s love of music was evident while playing bass guiter in the Shortie Medlock Band from
1969 thru 1975. Bill still plays and owns 6 guitars.

Bill also served in the Air National Guard as a Fireman from 1965 to 1973.

	Bill on one of many motorcycles next to his scooters. Click picture on left to enlarge view.
	Bill retired from the fire department as a Lt. and he now has the title of Train Engineer.
	Bill enjoys showing his train collection.