Susan Talvacchio of Williamstown and her brother Anthony Tartaglia of Washington Township hold a plaque in memory of their father Ernest Tartaglia, a Camden firefighter who was killed in an accident on the way to a call on Dec. 9, 1967, as they stand in the Haddon Heights Fire Department hall. Talvacchio and Tartaglia were the first recipients to use the Camden County Hero Scholarship Fund, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year.(Photo: Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo
Story HighlightsAnthony Tartaglia was at his girlfriend's house when the call came.
His future father-in-law answered the phone, and, unsure how to deliver the terrible news, took Tartaglia back to his South Camden home to hear it from his mother.
Ernest Tartaglia, his father and a firefighter with the city, had been killed in an accident on the way to a call.
It was just before Christmas — Dec. 9, 1967 — and the holiday would never be the same.
"It's one of those things that we always thought about; we always thought about that call," he told the Courier-Post last week, sitting with his sister, Susan Talvacchio, at the Haddon Heights Fire Department hall.
"It was extremely devastating, to lose my father at that age," he said. "He was always very supportive of me."
Tartaglia and Talvacchio will be the keynote speakers at the Camden County Hero Scholarship Fund's annual dinner March 4, along with 13-year-old Brittany Sylvester. Brittany's father, James, was chief of the Mount Ephraim Fire Department and was killed in a July 4, 2002 fire in Gloucester City that claimed two other firefighters and three young girls.
The siblings talked about their father and the scholarship fund with Dawn Ragan, its executive director, and Gene Dannenfelser, its president.
Talvacchio, 13 at the time of her father's death, was home with her mother, babysitting her niece.
"I tortured my dad every year at Christmas — I loved Christmas. I couldn't wait for him to put up the decorations," she recalled. "We were down in the basement getting out the decorations and there was a knock at the front door."
Standing in the doorway were Chief Edward Michalak and a priest.
She called her mother, and when her mother saw who it was, she began screaming.
"They told us he had taken a call, and they said he was killed. At 13, I was numb," the Williamstown resident remembered. The house began to fill with visitors from the city and the fire department, and her two older siblings, married and living on their own, were summoned home.
Buy Photo A Courier-Post article featuring Susan Talvacchio of Williamstown and her brother Anthony Tartaglia of Washington Township, whose father Ernest Tartaglia, a Camden firefighter killed in an accident on the way to a call on Dec. 9, 1967, is displayed at the Haddon Heights Fire Department hall. Talvacchio and Tartaglia were the first recipients to use the Camden County Hero Scholarship Fund, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year. (Photo: Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer)
Both Talvacchio and Tartaglia said one memory of those terrible days stayed with them in the years since: the support of the firefighting and law enforcement communities.
And it's that support that led to their becoming the first recipients to use the Camden County Hero Scholarship Fund, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year.
Ernest Tartaglia, two years from retirement when he was killed, "was well-loved by many people," his son recalled.
"The funeral was just… unbelievable," he said. "In those days, they would ride from the funeral parlor down past your house, and there must have been a thousand cars going down the street.
"It was something to see. There were so many people who showed up and came to the house and sent things… It really was a sign of compassion and love for my family."
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Last SlideNext SlideThe scholarship fund enabled the two younger Tartaglia siblings to become what they are today: Anthony earned his bachelor's in education at Glassboro State (now Rowan University) and is a regional sales manager with Honeywell Safety Products. Talvacchio went to PB Cosmetology School in Gloucester City and is now the owner of D'Nicole Salon and Spa in Washington Township.
The fund is supported by local police and fire departments, police and firefighters' unions, private and corporate donations and the United Way, as well as events throughout the year including comedy nights, Coach bag bingo and other fundraisers.
Each year, the group honors all the police and first responders killed in the line of duty; at the end of the dinner, each name is read and a ball rung in his or her honor. Citations are given active officers and responders for valor and meritorious service as well.
To date, the fund has awarded scholarships to 52 survivors of police and responders killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty.
In addition to survivors, the fund each year offers $2,500 scholarships to graduating high school seniors whose parent is actively serving in public safety; a $1,500 scholarship to a student pursuing a career in law enforcement; and a $1,000 scholarship in memory of Delaware River Port Authority Cpl. Christopher Milito, who was killed in the line of duty in 2010.
"The fund really helped me financially," recalled Tartaglia, who lives in Washington Township. "Glassboro State wasn't expensive, but it still cost money."
But the fund is more than money, he said.
"It really does give hope to the children who've lost a parent. It won't bring back the person you lost, but it gives a lot of comfort to know that support is there.
"They don't forget you."
Phaedra Trethan: (856) 486-2417; ptrethan@gannettnj.com
IF YOU GO
The Camden County Hero Scholarship Dinner is at 6 p.m. Friday, March 4 at Lucien's Manor, White Horse Pike, Berlin. Tickets are $60 and are available only in advance. For tickets or more information, call (856) 768-9656.
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Source: Camden heroes scholarship celebrates 50 years
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