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- Newspaper Obituary - September 11, 2000 Watertown Daily Times - Watertown, New York - ERNEST DANA LUMBER COMPANY RETIREE - Ernest "Toby" Dana, 72, of 361 N. Main St., died Sunday at Crouse Hospital, Syracuse. Mr. Dana retired in 1988 after 44 years as a forklift operator for Blount Lumber Co., Lacona. He was treasurer, a past chief and a 52-year member of Sandy Creek Fire Department, a social member of Cable Trail Veterans of Foreign Wars, Lacona, and a member of the American Association of Horses Asses Corral 97 and Oswego County Firemen's Association. He also was an avid bowler. Born April 23, 1928, at Sandy Creek, son of William and Frances Collins Dana, he graduated from Sandy Creek High School. He married Marion Caufield on Jan. 29, 1948, at Sandy Creek with the Rev. Herbert Harrison officiating. She died June 10, 1987. Surviving are two daughters, Barbara Cleveland, Sandy Creek, and Merri Lynn Weeks, Camas, Wash.; a son, Thomas J., Pulaski; a sister, Charlotte Oakes, Syracuse; a brother, James, Lacona; nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Two sisters, Elsie Helbock and Mildred Stacy, and four brothers, William, Harley, Gerald and Harrison, died before him. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Summerville Funeral Home with the Rev. Roger Bell, pastor of Sandy Creek United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Pulaski. Calling hours will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Donations may be made to Sandy Creek Volunteer Fire Department.
Newspaper Obituary - September 11, 2000 Post Standard - Syracuse, New York - ERNEST DANA - Ernest "Toby" Dana, 72, of 361 N. Main St.,Sandy Creek, died Sunday at Crouse Hospital. He was a life resident of Sandy Creek and graduated from Sandy Creek High School. He retired in 1988 after 44 years as a forklift operator for Blount Lumber Co., Lacona. He was treasurer, past chief and a 52-year member of the Sandy Creek Fire Department, a social member of Cable Trail VFW Post, Lacona, and a member of AAHA Corral 97, Sandy Creek, and the Oswego County Firemen's Association. His wife, the former Marion Caufield, died in 1987. Survivors: Two daughters, Barbara Cleveland of Sandy Creek and Merri Lynn Weeks of Camas, Wash.; a son, Thomas J. of Pulaski; a sister, Charlotte Oakes of Syracuse; a brother, James of Lacona; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren. Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday at Summerville Funeral Home. Burial, Riverside Cemetery, Pulaski. Calling hours, 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, 1997 Harwood Drive, Sandy Creek. Contributions: Sandy Creek Volunteer Fire Department.
Newspaper Obituary - September 14, 2000 Post Standard - Syracuse, New York - SANDY CREEK DEPARTMENT MOURNS COLLEAGUE ERNEST "TOBY" DANA, A 52-YEAR VOLUNTEER, WAS GIVEN A FIREFIGHTER'S FUNERAL. - In March, members of the Sandy Creek Volunteer Fire Department surprised veteran member Ernest "Toby" Dana by dedicating its new rescue truck to him. Dana, the department's treasurer, had served there 52 years and had driven rescue for at least 35. Fire Chief Ray Rice lured Dana to the station by calling him to an executive board meeting. When Dana arrived, he was greeted by friends, family and a plaque bearing his name on the side of the truck. "He was overwhelmed," Rice said. Wednesday, Dana's loved ones were grateful for that moment. Dana, 72, died Sunday at Crouse Hospital from complications of leukemia diagnosed just four weeks ago. His fellow firefighters honored him a final time Wednesday with a funeral procession from Sandy Creek to Riverside Cemetery in Pulaski that included seven fire trucks, an ambulance and more than 20 cars. Dana's children rode up front in the new rescue truck, behind the antique pumper that carried his flag-draped casket. Dana, a Sandy Creek native, started working at age 16, while still in high school, and joined the fire department at age 20. He was a forklift operator at Blount's Lumber for 44 years, during which he also went on nearly every fire call, attended nearly every meeting and held nearly every office in the fire department, said department president Jay Freeman. In 1987, he lost his wife, Marion, who worked with him at Blount's. The next year, Blount's closing forced his retirement. After that, Dana gave "110 percent" to the fire department, Freeman said. He helped run Tuesday night bingo, worked the beer tent at the Oswego County Fair and chaired the fund-raising Washington's Ball. "He slowed down after he started having heart problems (about eight years ago)," Freeman said. "But he still was there at every meeting and fund-raiser." Friends described Dana as an amazingly easygoing man with only kind words for others. Yet he took his position as treasurer very seriously. "He was generous about spending his own money, but not about spending the department's," Rice said. After he posed for a photo at the wheel of the new rescue truck, the joke was that "he was smiling because he didn't have to write a check for it," Rice said. The village footed that bill. The department took his death hard. Dana was working bingo last month when he began to feel faint and looked pale, Rice said. Guilfoyle Ambulance workers talked him into going to the hospital. He was diagnosed with leukemia and treated with chemotherapy, which seemed to be working. But it also allowed him to develop an infection that apparently caused his death, friends said. During his funeral Wednesday, the Phoenix and Parish fire departments sent ladder trucks whose crews extended the 75-foot ladders to form an arch over the cemetery gate and hung an American flag in the middle. Rice said the impressive display was the least they could do. "What we did is not near enough to what he deserved," he said.
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1928 - 2000 (71 years)
d. 12 Jun 1954, Watertown, Jefferson, New York, United States of America