He was on the water. He was where he always wanted to be.

Vincent Yaich Sr. spent the early hours of Memorial Day with a fishing rod in hand, doing what he loved most when he was not answering a call or fixing a leak. By that afternoon, he was gone.

Yaich died Monday at age 68 at St. Luke’s Miners Hospital in Coaldale following a heart attack. A volunteer firefighter for 52 years, a Jim Thorpe Water Department supervisor for 33 years and a Pennsylvania DCNR forest fire warden for 35 years, he left behind a community still sorting out what his absence means.

“I believe he died doing what he loved,” said an emotional Jay Miller, one of Yaich’s closest friends and a fellow firefighter of more than five decades. “I will miss him dearly. I said to my wife the other day, I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”

The two men first met as teenagers growing up a half-block apart in Jim Thorpe’s Heights section. They joined the fire service together at 16, and their friendship endured through more than half a century of calls, council meetings and nightly conversations on the porch.

“Monday through Thursday, guaranteed, we would sit outside and talk about everything,” Miller said. “We solved all the world’s problems between 5:30 and 8 o’clock every night.”

Their bond was forged early and both men eventually found their way to the Diligent Fire Co. No. 3, where they would each log more than 50 years of service and be honored at the company’s 150th anniversary celebration in 2024.

“It was a big honor,” Miller said of the milestone event. “We started when we were 16 years old. Back then, it was like, this is the good thing to do. There were no questions. We just joined the fire service.”

Becoming chief

Yaich rose to lead what he had joined as a boy, serving as fire chief of the Diligent and later the newly established Jim Thorpe Municipal Fire Department. His unique position — overseeing both the fire department and the water system — gave him an operational command of the borough that no one else possessed.

“Since he was in charge of the water department and he was also fire chief, he knew where all the good hydrants were, and he knew where to assign us,” Miller said.

Carbon County Commissioner Michael Sofranko, who served alongside Yaich for decades as a borough councilman and later as mayor, said that institutional command showed up when it mattered most. He recalled one crisis when the east side of the borough ran out of water.

“He was there to make sure we had some tanker shuttles and got water,” Sofranko said. “He was a steady hand helping us all get that accomplished.”

For Sofranko, Yaich’s availability was never in question.

“You can’t pay for that amount of commitment,” he said. “He lived and breathed Jim Thorpe Borough and the Jim Thorpe Fire Department. As fire chief, you’re always having tragedies, and Vince was always there to make sure we could navigate through those tough times.”

Former Borough Council President Greg Strubinger, who served with Yaich through 20 years of municipal governance, said that when the borough created the public services manager position, there was only one candidate worth considering.

“This is a unique position, and Vince is really the only guy that fits it,” Strubinger said. “We were just hoping we could talk him into taking it.”

Strubinger said the kind of commitment Yaich demonstrated throughout his life is rooted in something that is difficult to teach and even harder to replace.

“You’re just so invested in the town where you were raised,” he said. “You think of the people before you and think, they did it. Now the next generation has to step up. I’m sure Vince was the same way. He had the desire to serve, and he just said, I’m going to do it.”

In his steps

That legacy passed directly to his son. In December, borough council swore in Vincent Yaich Jr. as the new fire chief. The elder Yaich was still alive.

“That had to be a very proud moment, and I know it was,” Miller said. “Vince sometimes would not tell you how he felt, but I knew how he felt.”

Strubinger, who witnessed the swearing-in, said the younger Yaich made clear what the moment meant.

“When Vince Jr. was sworn in that night, the first thing he said was that getting into that position his dad had for so long was the most meaningful part — keeping that line going as a way to honor his dad and making his dad proud,” Strubinger said.

Those who knew Yaich well described a man capable of intensity and stubbornness in equal measure with warmth and humor.

“He could be thick-headed, and you would see that side of him,” Miller said. “But then I saw the other side, and you can’t replace that.”

A sense of humor

Strubinger remembered the zingers.

“He would always have these little lines that he would hit you with, and it was pretty funny,” Strubinger said. “Every now and then I could be quick enough to get one back, and he enjoyed that. That showed his humanity and that he was serious, but at the same time he realized we’re all human beings and we have to sort of kid around.”

Sofranko said Yaich’s humor never left him, even in the worst moments.

“He always had a one-liner,” he said. “In the toughest situations, or the funniest, he always had that reply that would break the ice and give you a chuckle.”

At fires, Miller said, Yaich was at his most elemental.

“He was at his best when times were at their worst,” Miller said, “and we saw things that a lot of people never saw.”

The loss, both Miller and Sofranko agreed, goes beyond the personal.

“You do not find this in a book,” Miller said of the institutional knowledge Yaich carried. “The only way local officials can learn what to do and make the correct vote is to learn your job — get out with the employees and supervisors and find out exactly how things work. Then you can make a rational decision on finances. If you don’t, you’re just poking in the wind. You can’t replace Vince Yaich.”

Sofranko said the borough must reach out to those Yaich mentored.

“You never replace all of those years of knowledge,” he said.

But when Sofranko reflected on what he most hoped people would carry forward, he returned not to the calls answered or the crises managed, but to what Yaich sacrificed to answer them.

“He was dedicated, loyal and committed to his community, and he cared deeply,” Sofranko said. “People don’t realize how much time they gave up when you’re running to fires and taking care of water leaks. How many Christmases and Easters and holidays are missed. The dedication and loyal commitment, you can’t say enough about that.”

Yaich was the husband of Dolores T. “Butchie” (Kibler) Yaich. They would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in September.

Beyond his fire and water service, Yaich was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, a member of the Mauch Chunk Rod & Gun Club, the Weiser Forest District Warden’s Association and the Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame.

A memorial funeral service will be held at noon Friday at the Edward F. Melber Funeral Home, 524 Center St., Jim Thorpe, with the Rev. Ronald Minner officiating. Visitation will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made by check to Diligent Fire Co. No. 3, 330 Center Ave., Jim Thorpe.