The Westerly Ambulance Corps is preparing to mark 100 years of getting sick and injured people to the care they need when the organization’s anniversary comes around next year. As a slate of events to celebrate the centennial is established, the non-profit organization is asking for help from former members and those familiar with its history.

Current active members are hoping to find as many past members as they can to make the centennial celebration as meaningful as possible and to help patch together aspects of the corps’ history.

“We believe there were over 1,000 members over the 100 years. We’re hoping to spread the word, especially to the older generations,” said Philip Gingerella Sr., a member of the corps’ 100th Anniversary Committee.

One of the goals is to establish an accurate roster of all past members. Old newspaper clippings, photographs, insignias, emblems, and other memorabilia are also being sought to help chronicle the organization’s history.

“We are especially in need of pictures and information on our ambulances from the 1920s to the 1960s. Anything that helps us remember and recognize our past,” Gingerella said.

Organizers are planning a few different events for what some members believe is the oldest continuously operating ambulance corps in the country.

“We’re envisioning a year-long celebration. This is a huge milestone for the organization and for the town,” Gingerella said.

The celebration will start with a kickoff event planned for Jan. 6. Scheduled for the corps’ Chestnut Street headquarters, the event will feature an unveiling of new logos and a new uniform. The organization’s newest ambulance, which is slated to go into service in the fall, will also be on display.

In June a memorial service will be conducted for the corps’ deceased members. The big event, which will include a parade and an open house at the headquarters, is scheduled for Sept. 23. The corps’ annual banquet at the end of November will close out the celebration.

In addition to the anniversary planning committee, the corps has designated eight life-time members who no longer go out on calls as ambassadors to help plan the celebrations.

“We want them to be the face of the events and the anniversary celebration,” Gingerella said of the ambassadors.

One of the ambassadors, Norm Dion, served as a volunteer responding to emergencies for 25 years. “I just liked doing it. Back in those days volunteerism was very popular and they were a good organization,” Dion said.

This will be the second anniversary that Dion is involved with. He served as the corps’ vice president in 1967 when the 50th anniversary was celebrated.

Serving as part of an ambulance crew can, of course, be grueling work. Dion recalled responding to a gruesome house fire that claimed the lives of a Bradford family, including young children, in the 1970s. Unfortunately, he said, the call was largely oriented toward recovering bodies. “I had nightmares for about one year,” Dion said.

Kenneth Parrilla, who is also serving as an ambassador, related a similar story. He served for many years as a diver in the corps’ rescue division. On one occasion he had to swim to the bottom of the Pawcatuck River to recover the bodies of two children who died when the vehicle they were riding in went into the river. “I think of it to this day,” Parrilla said.

Parrilla became a member of the corps in 1958 just after graduating from high school. He served as a diver for many years and as an ambulance driver for 32 years.

The corps began as the Westerly Sanitary Corps in July of 1917 at a time when the American Red Cross sought to establish regional first responder organizations to supplement existing ones in metropolitan areas such as Boston and New York. At the time responses were focused on maritime accidents, plane crashes, and hurricanes.

The group first came together under the oversight of Dr. Frank I. Payne who announced the need through a piece published in The Sun. The solicitation netted about 30 responses and the corps was on its way. A flu epidemic that struck the next year was the corps’ first major challenge. Led by Payne, who served as corps commander, the members established a 50-bed make-shift hospital in the former Beach Street School, now part of River Bend Cemetery. An estimated 460 patients, many brought to the school in the back of pickup trucks, were treated over the course of one month.

In 1955 the corps changed its name to its current one.

Although the corps now has a few paid staff members, the spirit of volunteerism — residents willing to sacrifice their time and occasionally their own well-being — remains.

Ronald MacDonald III, president of the corps, first got involved when he was 14. Now 43, he explained what drives his continued commitment.

“I think it’s the connection to the community and being a part of an organization of volunteers who are interested and willing to help,” MacDonald said.

dfaulkner@thewesterlysun.com

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