Crime & Safety
Alburtis's George Stofflet Met Bill Clinton
George Stofflet, a member of the Alburtis Fire Police, is keeping busy in retirement.
Name: George Stofflet
Age: 80
Hometown: He was born and raised in Alburtis.
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Family: George and his wife, Gayle, have been married for 38 years. They have one son, 10 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
Occupation: George works as a school bus driver for various districts and is known as “Papa Joe” to the children. He is retired from Caloric in Topton and Brown Printing in East Greenville.
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Fire Department: He has been with the for four months. Prior to that, George was with the Lynnport Fire Department for five years.
Training: “I only have the training required for the fire police.”
Describe your job with the fire company. “I mainly direct the traffic at accidents and fire calls. Sometimes I help out in Macungie when they need extra fire police for special events.”
Why did you choose to become a firefighter/fire police? “It gave me something to do after retirement rather than sitting around the house. And it’s a way to give back to the community. I enjoy meeting people and hearing and telling stories.”
Tell us a story you'll never forget about your firefighting experience. “I don’t have any fire police stories, but I do have an interesting one from when I first started at Brown Printing as a delivery driver.
“My wife was allowed to travel along with me, so we went to Washington, D.C. to deliver materials to the White House. As we were walking around looking for the post office, we somehow ended up in the White House basement, where we saw a trolley car sitting! Very promptly, two security officers came and escorted us to our destination. As a matter of fact, they escorted us the remainder of our time there. We even met President Clinton while we were there.
“I remember one of the security officers saying ‘You’re a Dutchman, aren’t you?’”
What would you tell people interested in joining your fire company? “I would tell them you can help people wherever you can—firefighting or fire police. All you have to do is follow the rules.”
Do you know a volunteer firefighter who Patch should profile? Contact mariella.savidge@patch.com
