‘Heart of gold’: Newfield Fire Company board member dies after 65 years of service

William “Billy” Payne lived his long life doing the two things he loved most: helping others and serving his community.

After nearly 66 years of service at the Newfield Fire Company, including as company president, board chair and, most recently, board member, Payne died earlier this month at the age of 84. After joining the volunteer fire company in November 1959, he became its oldest active member and continued serving on the board until his death, despite his yearslong battle with cancer.

“Everyone loved him,” said Fire Company President Dale Ford, who worked with Payne for more than 30 years. “Even in his later years when he was really sick, he’d still make the effort to come to the fire company. He was obviously sick because you could see it in him and he was in pain, but he never complained and always had a smile on his face.”

Early life of service 

Billy Payne was born in Ithaca and grew up on his family’s dairy farm on Benjamin Hill Road in Newfield. He graduated from Newfield High School the same year he joined the fire company, where his father, Earl, had been a member for years.

Billy went on to work at the Morse Chain factory in Ithaca before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1963 to serve in the Vietnam War as a mechanic.  

“You never saw him without a smile on his face and his Vietnam hat on,” said Billy’s grandson, Patrick Payne. “Those two things were his pride and joy. He was very proud of his country, very proud of his time in service and proud of what he sacrificed for our country.”

After two years of service, Billy returned to Newfield and enjoyed a nearly 30-year career at NYSEG in Ithaca, where he worked as a mechanic and heavy equipment operator. When he retired, he served on the Newfield Woodlawn Cemetery Board and dedicated more time to the fire company.

Patrick, who works as a professional firefighter in the Rochester area, said that his grandfather’s commitment to service inspired him to pursue his own career path.

“One thing my grandfather taught me was community service,” Patrick said. “He was a huge role model for our family, and everyone wanted to be like him.”

Fire company ‘legend’ 

Beyond his decades-long service as a firefighter, Billy served as the fire company’s president in the late 1980s and then as board chairman in the early 1990s before his son, Tim, began leading the board.

Fire Chief Zachary Guidi described Billy as “one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet” and said that he helped oversee many decisions at the fire company over the years, including fire truck purchases, building upgrades and equipment modernization. 

Billy was also an active member of the fire company during some of the most significant changes throughout the station’s 108 years of service. These included establishing a program to recruit and train high school–aged students to become firefighters, the formation of a rescue squad in 1976 to provide first-aid care to victims and the relocation of the fire company in 1982 to its current location, 77 Main St., to accommodate a growing membership and fire apparatus.    

“He was one of the legends of the fire company and could speak to history and past practices,” Guidi said. 

As he got older, Billy continued protecting the community by driving fire trucks and answering calls, according to Dale, who noted that the fire company currently has between 30 and 40 members.

But Guidi said that one of Billy’s favorite tasks was giving out service award pins at the fire company’s annual banquet. Last year, Patrick, who joined the fire company in high school, awarded his grandfather a pin to celebrate his 65 years of service.

“From [being] as little as I can remember, I was always begging him to take me to the fire hall for their training so I could have fun and see what goes on,” Patrick said. “He was such a great mentor, and it was an honor giving him the award. It gave me the goal of wanting to serve my community for that long.”

Along with his “forever smile,” Guidi added that one of Billy’s most memorable acts of kindness was passing out Life Savers at board meetings because “apparently everyone needed a piece of candy.”      

‘Always a fighter’

Billy was first diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2005 and later with eye cancer. Both were treated, but his bladder cancer returned about seven years later and resulted in removal of his bladder. Then, in January, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. 

“He had a slow death, but you would never know it,” Dale said.

Billy’s Christian faith helped instill his commitment to helping others, despite his declining health, and he took pride in volunteering at the Newfield Methodist Church food pantry for more than 20 years, where he was also on the board of trustees. 

“He was the potato peeler, apple peeler and egg scrambler,” said the church’s pastor, Geri Judd. “He loved his church family, and he never lost his faith. He had a heart of gold and was willing to help anyone.”

Patrick said that his grandfather’s outlook on life, more than his work, made Billy one of the strongest people he knew.

“Until the day he passed, he was always a fighter,” Patrick said. “He never showed defeat, and it was just incredible to see someone with that much willpower and strength push through what he dealt with.”

Patricia Payne, Billy’s wife of 58 years, said that her husband was most proud of their family, which includes three children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. 

“We were calling our 8-year-old grandson in Texas on the day Billy died,” she said, “and our grandson told Billy, ‘I’m proud of you and I love you.’”