At funeral, fire chaplain remembered as hero

Richard Holst of Huntington Station had not fought a fire in years, though he was a Huntington Manor firefighter for more than three decades.

But he was no less a member of the fire department, fellow firefighters said Monday at his funeral. As the department's chaplain, he spent countless hours comforting sick and injured firefighters and their families, often visiting them at home or in hospitals.

>>VIDEO: Richard Holst remembered as hero

And, said Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, Holst was no less a hero.

"It's pretty clear that Richard Holst was a hero," Levy said to hundreds of mourners, including dozens of firefighters in blue dress uniforms, during a funeral Mass Monday at St. Hugh of Lincoln Church in Huntington Station.

"We go to sleep at night knowing that people like Richard Holst are there to protect us."

Holst, a Vietnam veteran and chief chaplain for the New York State Association of Fire Chaplains, collapsed and died Wednesday after reporting a predawn fire at a Huntington Station bagel cafe. He was 60.

>>PHOTOS: Friends, family gather for Richard Holst funeral

An autopsy found that Holst died of natural causes.

His coffin was carried to the church on an antique Huntington Manor Fire Department truck that passed beneath a pair of enormous American flags suspended over New York Avenue. Dozens of side streets were blocked by police barricades for the procession, and mourners took buses and vans to the church.

Holst's helmet, inscribed with "Chaplain," rested on the hood of the truck carrying his coffin.

Holst was born on May 19, 1949, in Rockville Centre and married his high school sweetheart, Noreen, in Queens in 1973. He retired earlier this year from National Grid after a 35-year career at the company and its predecessors.

He joined the Huntington Manor Fire Department in 1978 and became chaplain five years later. He became known to fellow firefighters as "Rev."

"He was always trying to help," Joseph Williams, commissioner of Suffolk fire, rescue and emergency services, said in an interview. "It takes a special kind of person to do that."

Pete Gunther, a spokesman for the Huntington Manor department, said Holst was "always there to help somebody."

"It's going to be hard to replace a guy like that," Gunther said.

Holst was walking home from the Huntington Manor fire house after a fire call Wednesday morning when he saw smoke coming from the Uber Cafe on Depot Road in Huntington Station, officials said.

He called in the fire, then collapsed in front of the cafe as firefighters arrived to fight the blaze.

He was taken to Huntington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy found that Holst died of natural causes.

After the service Monday, firefighters saluted as Holst's coffin was carried out of the church. A bugler played "Taps" before pallbearers lifted the coffin onto one of two vintage Huntington Manor fire trucks dating to the 1950s.

The procession then drove to Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn for burial.

>>VIDEO: Richard Holst remembered as hero

>>PHOTOS: Friends, family gather for Richard Holst funeral