Geneva Fire Dept. to dedicate memorial to Chuck Lencioni

The Geneva Fire Department will dedicate a memorial Saturday to one of its favorite firefighters, the late Chuck Lencioni.

The ceremony is at 9 a.m. at Station 1, 200 East Side Drive. Mayor Kevin Burns will speak.

Lencioni was a paid-on-call firefighter for 30 years, starting in his teens. He rose to the rank of lieutenant. Firefighting was a tradition in his family, with his great-grandfather having helped organize the department.

Lencioni also owned Firehouse No. 5 restaurant in the 1980s, before becoming a building inspector, then building commissioner, for the city of Geneva.

He died of lung cancer in July 2010 at age 55.

The memorial is paid for from donations received in his memory. It is intended to honor members of the department, and dedicated to the memory of Lencioni. It was designed and built by Geneva firefighters.

Besides his work for the city and as a firefighter, Lencioni also worked with the city’s Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. And he invented the Flavor Fare, injecting new life into Festival of the Vine. He was also active in Boy Scouts and religious education at St. Peter Catholic Church.

For several years, Lencioni was a spotter in the press box at Burgess Stadium at Geneva High School, relaying football players’ numbers to the public-address announcer.