A living document

This work began as an informal desire to capture and preserve the history of the North Rose Fire Department. First inquiries did not uncover a flood of information — only a few current or former senior members remain, and only a couple were available to engage.

Rather than let that stop the work, the archive stepped to the side and refocused on the people and the community who built and sustained this organization for more than 110 years. It is a beginning: a framework from which the story of the twentieth century, and the journey into the twenty-first, can continue to grow. Where the record is thin, it says so; where a name or a photograph is unidentified, it invites correction.

Sources include the Lake Shore News and other regional newspapers, federal and state census returns, department minutes and correspondence, New York State incorporation records, the DEC spill file for the 1983 incident, the Rose Town Historian's collection, and interviews with members, families and descendants conducted through 2026.

Ric Guthrie was raised in North Rose NY by Richard and Patricia Countryman Guthrie along with two siblings Steve and Mark. Ric was tied to the Fire Department throughout his childhood and took every opportunity to ‘hang around’ the Fire Hall, engage the members, and participate in events. The Fire House was like a second home in those days.

He would leave North Rose upon completion of High School (NRWCS) to enlist in the U.S. Navy where he served for 6 years as a Submarine Fire Controlman (SS).

Ric would move back to North Rose following his enlistment in the Navy and volunteered with the NRFD for a few years and is currently an honorary member. He moved to Grand Bay AL where he would further volunteer with the Grand Bay Volunteer Fire Department for several more years before moving to Northern Virginia.

Ric married Pamela Marshall in 1988 and raised 2 children, Lindsey and Nathan. He and Pam currently reside at their retirement destination of Mobile Alabama.