- More than 1,200 volunteer firefighters from across the state came to Riverhead this weekend to pay their last respects to Riverhead Fire Department ex-commissioner Richard Ligon.
Ligon died suddenly on Monday May 8 of an apparent heart attack. He was 77 years old and remained an active member of the Riverhead Fire Department to the last, responding to two alarms the day before he died.
The Riverhead native was well-known and much loved throughout the New York’s firefighting community. He was involved in many organizations and served them in leadership positions, Riverhead Fire Chief Kevin Brooks said.
Ligon was waked at Riverhead Fire Department headquarters, where on Saturday night hundreds of firefighters packed the firehouse community room to capacity to participate in firematic services for their fallen brother. The line of firefighters in Class A uniforms spilled out the door, down the hall and down the stairs.
Ligon’s funeral yesterday was one that rivaled any Riverhead had ever seen, closing roads down along the route of the procession. Ligon’s flag-draped coffin was carried from headquarters to First Baptist Church on Northville Turnpike by a Riverhead engine. Northville Turnpike was closed in the area of the church for the entire morning in order to accommodate mourners’ vehicles.
Ladder trucks from Westhampton, Greenport, Mattituck, Manorville, Yaphank, Mastic, Brookhaven, Gordon Heights and Middle Island fire departments arrived to form arches from which giant American flags were hung — they were positioned outside the church and on Middle Country Road outside Calverton Nation Cemetery.
Fire police units from Riverhead, Jamesport, Wading River, Ridge and Center Moriches fire departments controlled traffic along with Riverhead Town Police, as the funeral procession left the church after the funeral service and returned to the firehouse, where firefighters tolled the memorial bell. The procession then made its way to the National Cemetery, where Ligon, a U.S. Navy veteran was laid to rest.
“Everybody, everybody knew Richie,” Brooks said. “No matter where I went — including Sea World in Florida — if I had a Riverhead Fire Department jacket on, someone would ask me if I knew Rich Ligon.”
Ligon was president of the North Fork Volunteer Fireman’s Association from 2012 to 2014 and a past president of Suffolk County Drill Officials. He was also area representative to the New York State Parade and Drill Team Captain’s Association.
“He never stood still,” Brooks said. “He always told me, ‘You gotta represent.’ That was one of his big sayings.”
Locally, in addition to serving as commissioner from 2000 to 2004, he was an ex-captain of the Redbird Hook and Ladder Company. He was named Redbird of the year in 1988, 1993 and 2008 and Riverhead Firefighter of the Year in 1993. He served as captain of the Ironman Racing Team.
“He was a fireman’s fireman,” Brooks said. “The fire community was his love. It was his passion.”
He had struggled to become a part of it. In 1977, at the age of 37, Ligon became the first black man to become a member of the Riverhead Fire Department, breaking a racial barrier that had stood for more than 140 years. It took the filing of a formal complaint with the state to achieve his goal.
Though he had to fight to get into the department, once he became a member, he became an institution in the fire service, said Riverhead Town Justice Allen Smith, also a member of the Redbird Hook and Ladder Company. Smith eulogized his fellow redbird Saturday night.
Ligon, a graduate of Riverhead High School, served in the Navy, and then went to work for the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. He retired from that job after 36 years. In retirement, he worked as a mail carrier for the Riverhead Central School District.
He is survived by a daughter, Lynn, of Riverhead, a grandson, Curtis Flippen, also of Riverhead and his sisters Shirley Ligon of Doulasville, Georgia and Rose Rita Watson of Rockledge, Florida.
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