Retired Lisle fire chief remembered

When Paul H. “Bud” Boecker joined the Naperville Fire Department in 1952, he didn’t do it for the job.

Boecker became a fireman because it was a calling, friends say.

It was the beginning of a 42-year career filled with awards and accolades for the former fire chief who was instrumental in transforming a volunteer department into the full-time professional Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District.

The longtime Lisle resident died Aug. 14 at the age of 79 after a short illness. On Friday, Boecker’s friends, family and fellow firefighters gathered to remember him and his lifetime of accomplishments.

“The Boecker name will always be associated with innovation and vision,” Donald Cook, a retired Lisle-Woodridge bureau chief, said during the funeral service at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lisle.

By the time he became Lisle’s first paid chief in 1971, Boecker had left “an indelible mark on the Naperville Fire Department,” said Terry Jelinek, a retired Naperville district chief.

“Bud was an innovator,” Jelinek said.

In addition to his commitment to providing education and training to other firefighters, Boecker worked to educate the public about fire prevention.

In 1954, when he was a part-time lieutenant in Naperville Fire Department, he founded the Keep the Wreath Red program, which raises awareness about fire safety during the holidays.

Cook recalled there was “apprehension” among Lisle firefighters when Boecker was named chief. But by the end of Boecker’s first staff meeting, “he pretty much had everybody on board,” Cook said.

“It didn’t take long before he instituted changes that continue today,” Cook said.

Paul Boecker III remembered his father as “a gentle giant” with a heart of gold. And while work caused him to miss birthdays and holidays, the elder Boecker “always made up for it.”

“He taught us to live,” Paul Boecker III said. “He taught us to love. He taught us to be ourselves.”

During Boecker’s tenure with the fire district it grew from a small department to one with five fire stations and more than 80 employees. In addition to starting the district’s paramedic program, Boecker insisted every firefighter be a certified EMT.

In addition to nine awards of commendation during his career, Boecker received four awards of merit and the district’s Firefighter of the Year Award in 1993. The Illinois Fire Chiefs Association gave him a Fire Chief of the Year Award in 1982 and named him a fire chief emeritus in 2008.

While still in school, Boecker drew a building design that later became the inspiration for Fire Station 1 in downtown Lisle. In 2005, the building was dedicated in his honor.

So it was only fitting that Friday’s funeral procession traveled past the station as Boecker was carried to his final resting place in Naperville Cemetery.

“Our chief, friend, brother, husband and father is in his final quarters,” Paul Boecker III said.