An Irish Afternoon To Benefit

The Family Of Brian Comerford

By Kaaren Valenta

Friends of the late Brian Comerford are planning a fundraiser, An Irish Afternoon, in Sandy Hook to raise money for the family of the firefighter who was killed in a traffic accident on Route I-84 in February.

“When the accident happened, Brian was on his way home from participating in an honor guard in a funeral for the father of a firefighter, who was a firefighter himself,” explained Bill McAllister who, with Shari Burton, is organizing the April 29 benefit.

Mr Comerford, who was 32 when he died on February 19, grew up in Newtown. He attended Sandy Hook School and later Nunnawauk High School in Woodbury.

“Brian came from a big family – five kids,” Mr McAllister said. “His father was a high school teacher in the late 1960s. After he died, Brian’s mother eventually remarried and the family moved to Woodbury.”

Brian Comerford joined the US Army and later the National Guard. He served with the Bco1-102nd infantry light, and was a sergeant first class in charge of First Platoon, recently completing training for upcoming deployment to Bosnia on a NATO peacekeeping mission. He had received numerous awards, decorations, and had distinguished himself during NATO exercises in Canada. He also earned an associate’s degree at Mattatuck Community College in Waterbury.

“I got to know him years ago because his aunt was my secretary,” said Mr McAllister, who operated an insurance agency in Sandy Hook for many years and is an assistant chief with Newtown Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company. “He kept himself in excellent physical shape. He was a union carpenter but always was interested in helping people. Brian started out as a volunteer firefighter in Woodbury, and became an EMT [emergency medical technician]. He was very active as a firefighter and EMT – a very enthusiastic student who studied very hard to get a fulltime job as a firefighter.”

Eventually Brian Comerford took the firefighter’s exam for the City of Meriden and was hired. Since 1997 he also was a volunteer with the Middlebury Fire Department and had been an emergency medical technician (EMT) for Champion and Middlebury Ambulances.

“He was always helping someone,” Mr McAllister said. “You could tell that just by the type of organizations he affiliated himself with.”

When he died, he left his widow, Dana, and two daughters, Siobhan, 5, and Fiona, 1, and a son, Brian, Jr, 3, who now live in Middlebury. His sister, Laura J. Mathison and brother-in-law, Bob Mathison, live in Newtown.

Mr McAllister and Shari Burton are organizing an Irish Afternoon to be held from 1 to 6 pm at the Sandy Hook Firehouse on Riverside Road. The event will include Irish food prepared by Mrs Burton and entertainment. Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children.

“The week following Brian’s accident, his wife’s car was totaled in an accident in a snowstorm, so both of the family cars were destroyed,” Mr McAllister said. “There isn’t much left for the family. There was only a very small life insurance policy with the City of Meriden because he wasn’t considered to have been killed in the line of duty.”

“Brian spent his life dedicating and giving himself to his community and his family. Here’s our chance to give a little something back to him,” Mr McAllister said.

For more information or to help at the event, call Shari Burton at home, 426-5977, or at work, 270-9112. Mr McAllister can be reached at 263-5837 or 263-4391.

Contributions also may be made by sending a donation to the Brian M. Comerford Children’s Fund, 124 Tranquility Road, Middlebury, CT 06762.