Onset Fire Chief Howard B. Andersen passed away on Friday, October 4, less than a month after he hung up his helmet. He was 58.

At his retirement party in September, more than 300 people gathered to celebrate his lengthy firefighting career. Andersen joined the department at age 15 and retired after more than 43 years of service -- 16 of them as chief.

Even as he battled cancer in recent years, he remained passionately dedicated to the fire department -- an attribute emphasized by most everyone who mentions the chief's name.

"By far, I have never worked with or met a leader of a department that is as committed or dedicated to his personnel than him," said Onset Fire Deputy Chief Jeff Osswald. "It's hard to put into words the respect and admiration I have for him. ... He was family. He was a mentor. He was somebody you looked up to."

Raymond Goodwin, an Onset Fire captain, echoed that sentiment.

"He never hesitated. Never slowed down. Never faltered," said Goodwin, a cousin of the chief whose family moved back to the area when he was 7 years old. Goodwin became close to Andersen, who was a young firefighter at that time.

"That level of dedication and commitment, you don't see that very often," Goodwin said of the chief. "He is the most dedicated firefighter I have ever met."

In addition to his brother and sister first-responders, Andersen is survived by his wife, Theresa M. (Jones) Andersen; his parents, Howard and Joan (Heikila) Andersen of South Dennis; his son, Howard L. Andersen of Onset; 3 daughters, Leslie Andersen of Penn., Courtney Coache of Onset and Brittany Andersen of Bourne; a step-daughter, Nicole Demoura of Bourne; 3 grandchildren, Michael, Adrianna and Lillian.

The chief was a pillar of the Onset Village community and a familiar face at the area coffee shops throughout the years.

"I've never seen someone drink so much coffee," Osswald said with a laugh. Osswald and his wife, Carolyn, run the Firehouse Cafe on Onset Avenue, just steps away from Onset Fire. "He drank gallons of it."

Goodwin remembers being dispatched to an Onset Avenue doughnut shop when he was a young kid to pick up coffee for Andersen.

"He could put down some coffee," Goodwin said.

The chief loved coffee so much, it was not uncommon for him to use coffee shops as landmarks.

"That's usually how he prefaced his directions," Osswald said. "'Do you know where that Dunkin' Donuts is...?'"

Goodwin and Osswald both noted that the chief's heart-to-heart talks will be missed.

"We have a lot of people who wouldn't be in this profession if it hadn't been for one of his talks," Osswald said. "He always treated each person with respect. We all had times of emotions, but that next day, you started fresh and what happened before was aside."

"He filled so many roles in my life," Goodwin said. "It's weird to contemplate something not going to be there when it's been there your whole life."

Osswald agreed.

"I can't imagine moving forward without him. The department's coming together for him and his family and that's how he would want it," Osswald said. "He'd certainly do this for any one of us."

The community will say goodbye to Chief Andersen this Friday and Saturday.

Visiting hours will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 11, at the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 2599 Cranberry Highway.

The chief's funeral will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the funeral home. There will be a live audio feed of the funeral service at the Onset Pier.

A procession will follow from the funeral home, down Cranberry Highway, to Onset Village.

Officials are asking that, for safety reasons, the community view the processional on Onset Avenue near the Onset Pier or on Main Street in Wareham. Burial will follow in Centre Cemetery.