Bedford, NY – Rabbi Eulogies Firefighting Pioneer Laid To Rest.

Bedford, NY – Raymond Thompson, who extinguished countless blazes and rescued the injured during 53years with the Bedford Fire Department, was remembered at a funeral as a tough but compassionate leader who inspired by example.

Thompson, 72, died at Northern Westchester Hospital. The former Bedford fire chief, president and commissioner had served the department since 1954. He was also well-known for his work training fire and police personnel throughout the region as emergency medical technicians.

“Ray was a good and decent and giving man, a wonderful husband and father,” Rabbi Douglas Krantz, a firefighter and emergency medical technician in Armonk, said in a eulogy. “For me, he was an extraordinary friend. He changed the lives of those he touched. The Fire Department would not be the same Fire Department without Ray. Being an EMT would not be the same without Ray. None of us would be the same without Ray.”

Krantz, who had known Thompson for 15 years, said that he also set high standards. “He taught us one of the most important lessons. … You can be good, but you don’t have to be easy,” Krantz said. [journalnews]