Hometown hero gets a community farewell
Firefighter, 43, recalled for devotion to serving his town
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

Sayreville Firefighter Joseph Zonak stands beside his wife, Nora, and his two children, Nicholas, 14, and Matthew, 9 at the ceremony where he was named borough fire chief in 2001.

SAYREVILLE –– The community last week mourned the passing of a borough firefighter who gave 25 years of service to the borough.

A full firefighter’s funeral and burial were given for Joseph Zonak, 43, on Dec. 20. The Melrose Hose Company No. 1 member died of a massive heart attack Dec. 15 at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy.

Zonak had battled heart disease for 10 years, said his wife of 17 years, Nora. Heart disease runs in the family, she said, as both of Joseph’s parents are heart patients.

In addition to his wife, Zonak is survived by his parents, Chester and Elaine, and his sons, Matthew, 9, and Nicholas, 14.

Despite his heart condition, Zonak, who drove a truck for Propane Power, Newark, for nine years, continued to volunteer with the fire department over the years. He did paperwork and coordinated the local firefighters’ efforts in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Nora noted. He was chief of the borough’s departments that year.

Firefighters place the coffin of Joseph Zonak in the firetruck before the funeral service Dec. 20. Zonak, who died of heart disease at the age of 43 on Dec. 15, volunteered with the Melrose Hose Company No. 1 for 25 years. At right, firefighters display Zonak’s gear.

In all, he gave 25 years of service to the fire department alongside Chief Safety Officer George Gawron, his former classmate at Sayreville War Memorial High School.

“We were in high school together,” Gawron said. “We went through fire academy together, I served as chief, and then he did after me in 2001.”

His funeral Mass was held at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church Dec. 20. Firefighters from New York City, Sayreville and South Amboy, where two of his brothers-in-law volunteer, were among the 100-plus people who attended the services.

“Joe was the life of the party around the station,” Gawron said. “He was a very liked guy. He would do anything for you.”

Raymond Deecken, who knew Zonak for 15 years as a fellow firefighter in Melrose, said he will miss Zonak’s presence at the firehouse.

“I will miss his laugh,” Deecken said. “The way he was always calm and would never yell. He always had a mellow tone.”

Before the ceremony last week, firefighters drove Zonak’s casket on the fire engine past the firehouse one last time after leaving from the Spezzi Funeral

Home on Cherry Lane, Deecken said. Bagpipers and a bugler were on hand during the services to play in tribute.

Mike Follum, a former fire chief who is still active with the Presidents Park Fire Company, said he was friends with Joseph since they attended kindergarten at Sacred Heart School, South Amboy.

“He was best man at my wedding, and I was best man at his,” Follum said. “We were together a lot. He was a great individual.”

Follum said he did not have the words to express how good a person Joseph was.

“He was great to work with,” Follum said. “The whole department knew him and are going to miss him.”

Nora, who remembers meeting Joseph at a Halloween party at the firehouse, described her husband as a community- and family-oriented man.

“My husband was full of life,” Nora said. “You could always say the party was never the same without him. He believed in following the rules. He was a good, fair man, a good husband and a great father. He held the fire department as family, and he was just a hometown kind of guy.”