First Responders Turn Out to Honor Dick Hanlon

Rescue squads, ambulance squads and EMTs from around the region today joined the borough’s first responders for the funeral today of Richard Hanlon in Madison.

Hanlon, 83, a longtime volunteer, died Tuesday while on the way to assist on an emergency call.

To see video and more images from Dick Hanlon's funeral, click here.

Madison and , along with rescue personnel from 20 area squads including Summit, Chatham, Morristown, New Vernon, Florham Park and East Hanover, this morning followed a black hearse bearing Hanlon’s casket in a procession from up Prospect Street past the Ambulance Corps building and then over to on Green Village Road.

Men and women in uniform, with black tape on their shields, lined the walkway to the church, throwing up salutes against a chilly wind to honor Hanlon as the casket was wheeled into the church.

More than 200 mourners, including Hanlon’s companion, Joan Schenk, his daughter, Deborah Hanlon, and his sister, Mary Corey, along with Madison Council members Robert Conley and Jeannie Tsukamoto, filled the church where Hanlon worshiped to hear a eulogy by Msgr. George Hundt, accompanied by prayers and hymns.

“We know Dick lived his life in a manner pleasing to God,” Hundt said. “He set an example not so much by his words but by his actions. In this way, Dick mentored so many.

“Honor his legacy by taking something from his life—something noble, beautiful, praiseworthy—and make it part of your life,” Hundt told the congregation.

After the mass, the first responders again lined the walkway while the Police Pipes and Drums of Morris County played an accompaniment as Hanlon’s casket was wheeled to the hearse for the procession to St. Vincent’s Cemetery.

A parade of fire trucks, ambulances, rescue vehicles and police cars turned down Kings Road and up Prospect, passing beneath an arch created by the extended ladders of fire trucks from Madison and Florham Park. Personnel with the Madison Volunteer Ambulance Squad lined up in salute as the procession passed by, and the passing trucks blared their sirens in Hanlon’s honor.