Introduction
Albert A. Weller was born March 6, 1910. He was 18 when he married Jessie Havlick. Twin sons, Russell and Albert were born soon afterwards. The 1930 Census shows that Albert A. Weller had married while still quite young. He was living with his wife Jessie, twin sons Robert and Albert, and mother-in-law Marie Havlick, at 253 Burns Street in North Camden. Albert then worked as a driver.
Albert A. Weller joined the Camden Fire Department on November 21, 1938. He was promoted to Captain on June 16, 1951. After his promotion, he served with Ladder Company 2 and Rescue Company 1.
Albert and Jessie Weller appear to have separated by 1947. He lived at 638 Bailey Street in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, while Mrs. Weller first moved to North 35th Street and later to Collingswood.
Captain Weller retired on May 1, 1965. He had left Bailey Street by the fall of 1969. Albert A. Weller passed away on March 12, 1972.
253 Burns Street
Camden Courier-Post —
Mrs. Mary Havlick and the Weller children – Russell, Doris, Albert
Twins, Baby Sister Saved From Fire
Camden Courier-Post —
Father and Great Grandmother Carry Children from Blazing Shed
Twin brothers, 5, and their sister, 9 months, were rescued yesterday from their North Camden home by their father, and great-grandmother from a fire caused by the upsetting of a flaming bucket of gasoline into which a lighted match had been thrown.
The blaze, in a rear shed of the home of Mrs. Mary Havlick, 74, of 253 Burns Street, great-grandmother of the children, also ignited the adjoining dwelling of William Bolopue, a huckster, at 251 Burns Street. The Bolopue family was not at home. The fire occurred shortly after 11 a. m.
Albert Weller, the father of the children and grandson of Mrs. Havlick, told firemen that the fire started after he had carelessly tossed a lighted match into a pail of gasoline which he had drained from his auto-mobile in the rear of the house.
When Weller tried to extinguish the blaze in the pail, he told firemen, he stumbled over and upset it. The flames caught afire the shed at the rear of the house.
Slamming shut the shed door to cut off the draft, Weller seized his twin boys, Russell and Albert, Jr., Mrs. Havlick snatched the baby, Doris, from a high chair. The grandmother and her grandson took the children to the home of a neighbor, Mrs. Mae Bard, 252 Burns Street.
Meanwhile, someone had sent in a fire alarm, and firemen arrived in time to put out the fire in both houses before much damage resulted.
During the blaze, Mrs. Jessie Weller, mother of the children, was visiting the headquarters of the Emergency Relief Administration to apply for more food for her babies.
Firemen Here Get Advanced First Aid Course
Camden Courier-Post —
More than 40 members of the Camden Fire Department have completed the Red Cross course in advanced first aid according to announcement today by Howard F. Keller, Collingswood, chairman of the Camden County Chapter’s first aid committee.
Instruction sessions were under the direction of Fire Chief William V. Pfefferle, Drillmaster Anthony Dzinski, a member of the local chapter first aid group, assisted by Nicholas E. George, were instructors. Dzinski is a member of the Red Cross faculty at the National Aquatic School held in this area each year for instruction in advance safety techniques. Dick Harris, director of Red Cross safety services, supervised.
All members of the graduating class are personnel of several units housed at fire department headquarters here. These include the Headquarters Company, Engine Company 2, Rescue Squad 1 and Truck Company 1. These groups include:
Rescue Squad: Captains Arthur Batten, Philip A. Stinger and Albert Weller; Edward Brendlinger, Harrison MacNeir, Robert Olesiewicz and James W. Smith.
Headquarters Company: Raymond Banford, John K. Voll and John W. Yates.
Truck Company 1: Captains Daniel Jiannetto, Robert E. Dukes and Otto V. Kaiser; William Watkin, Chester Gedrich, George Baxter, John Mogck, George C. Hennessy, Charles Devlin, Ambrose W. Faust, Joseph McTaggart, Howard R. Taggart, William G. Winstanley and Elmer Johnson Jr.
Engine Company 2: Captains James R. Asher, Thomas Winstanley; Carl Wirtz, James McGrory, Edwin V. Decker, James Stewart, Francis X. McTaggart, Anthony T. Orme, Mario D. Fattore, James O. Jones, Francis P. Stibi, William Hopkins, Robert E. Briggs, John Giuliano, Casper Martelli, Harold H. Pike, John J. Vane, William Stibi, John DiMaggio and Harry Kleinfelder.
Certificates of Commendation
Camden Courier-Post —
Certificates of Commendation were presented on Tuesday to three Camden firemen by Deputy Public Safety Director Willard C. Schriver. Fire Chief William Van Pfefferle (next to Schriver) watches as presentation was made to Joseph Ballinghoff, Second Division Chief; fireman Harrison MacNeir and Captain Albert A. Weller, of Rescue Squad 1. The awards were made for prompt action of the men in searching for occupants presumed to be in a car which plunged into Cooper River on September 26.
Engine Company 2
Camden Fire Department — 1960
Engine Company 2 with new pumper in front of quarters, 5th & Arch Streets, 1960. Bottom row, from left: Fireman Harrison MacNeir, Chief Edward MacDowell, Fireman James Troutman, Captain Albert Weller, Fireman Charles Devlin, Fireman William Hopkins, Fireman George Hennessey; Top row, left to right: Fireman Francis Stibi, Fireman Robert Briggs, Fireman Bertram Dahl, Fireman Erwin Brennan, Captain Thomas Winstanley, Fireman Anthony Orme.
Rescue Company 1
Camden Fire Department —
Fireman James Smith (seated) & Albert A. Weller of Rescue Company 1 – July 31, 1961. Photo taken during body recovery along Delaware River bulkhead.
Camden Boy Drowns Off Pyne Poynt
Camden Courier-Post —
DRAGGING OPERATIONS go on as Gary Auxer, 10, of 517 N. 9th st., directs Rescue Squad 1’s boat to the spot in Delaware River where he last saw Eugene Thornton, 9, of 539 Birch st. At the oars is Winfield Myers and handling the grappling hooks is John Kolessar, both of Engine Company 6.
Camden Boy Drowns Off Pyne Poynt
Mystery shrouds the drowning Thursday of Eugene Thornton, 9, of 539 Birch st.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Eugene fell or was pushed into the Delaware River, according to eyewitness accounts, as he and an unidentified companion were playing on the pilings between N. 7th and N. 8th sts.
Det. Nicholas Pavlak of the juvenile bureau said police are looking for a companion who was with the drowned boy.
Boys Push Each Other
Pavlak said one account he received from eyewitnesses is that three boys were “horsing around” and pushing each other on the brink of the pilings. He said the water at this point is between 4 and 6 feet deep.
Pavlak said one boy, according to eyewitnesses, pushed Thornton and he fell into the water. He said it was “horseplay which resulted in tragedy.”
Pavlak said police will continue their efforts today to locate the boy who did the pushing.
Grappling hooks operated by the boat team of James Smith of Rescue Squad 1 and John Kolessar of Engine Company 6 hauled Eugene’s lifeless form to the surface at 7:20 p.m.
Men from both units, under the direction of Captain Albert Weller, had been dragging the river between Pyne Poynt and Petty’s Island for more than an hour before the body was recovered.
Identified By Mother
Young Thornton was pronounced dead on arrival at Cooper Hospital shortly after 7:30 p.m. by Dr. Gerald E. Vanston.
The victim’s identity remained undetermined until about 9 o’clock, when Thornton’s mother, Emma, accompanied by her 10-year-old son, Albert, tearfully identified her son’s body at the hospital.
Mrs. Thornton told Pavlak that Eugene, Albert and her eight-year-old daughter, Diane had gone to the playgrounds around Pyne Poynt Junior High School at about 5 o’clock.
Albert told the detective that he and his sister had remained on the swings, while Eugene and another boy had gone off to play at the river’s edge.
Worker Reports Incident
Shortly before 6 p.m., William Passwater of 3225 Mount Ephraim ave., a WCAM employe, reported the drowning, according to Ptl. Peter Yecco and James Anderson.
Passwater told police that a Negro boy had run screaming to the radio station’s Pyne Poynt transmitter station, yelling that someone was drowning.
Gary Auxer, 10, of 517 N. 9th st., told Yecco and Anderson that he and some friends had witnessed the incident.
Gary said he had gone to water’s edge to warn Eugene and his friend. When he reached the scene, Auxer said, he heard Eugene’s friend, a Negro boy about 12, challenging Eugene to go in the water.
“It ain’t deep. It’s low tide.” [sic] the older boy said, according to Gary.
Then, when it seemed Eugene was not going to jump in the river, the older boy pushed him in, Gary said.
Youth Frightened
After the older boy reached for Eugene in the water and failed, he became frightened and ran off, Auxer told police.
Gary, a fifth-grader at Sewell School, said he tried to grab Eugene several times unsuccessfully. A friend of Auxer’s, John Barry Kelley, 9. [sic] of 642 Erie st., a third grader at Holy Name School, said he grabbed Eugene’s hand but the drowning boy let go.
Some 200 spectators lined the Delaware’s banks to watch the dragging operations.
Besides his mother; his brother, Albert, and sister, Diane, Eugene, a student at Cooper School, is survived by his father, Albert, a Pennsylvania Railroad employe; two brothers, Jacob, 5, and Carl, 2; and two sisters, Geraldine, 5, and Cynthia, 1.
First Annual Retirement Dinner
Camden Fire Department —
GEORGE L. BOONE, Captain Entered Department December 22, 1930 Promoted to Captain April 8, 1948 Retired December 1, 1965 35 Years of Service
ISAAC MUNS Entered Department April 12, 1956 Retired October 1, 1965 9 Years Service
JOHN C. VOLL Entered Department January 15, 1925 Retired December 1, 1965 40 Years Service
JOHN T. CLEMMENS Entered Department September 10, 1941 Retired January 1, 1965 25 Years Service
HARRISON B. PIKE Entered Department May 29, 1924 Retired August 1, 1965 41 Years Service
ALBERT A. WELLER, Captain Entered Department November 21, 1938 Promoted to Captain June 16, 1951 Retired May 1, 1965 27 Years Service
AUSTIN E. MARKS, District Chief Entered Department November 25, 1938 Promoted to Captain April 8, 1948 Promoted to District Chief November 1, 1953 Retired August 1, 1965 27 Years Service
EDWARD Y. SCOTT Entered Department November 17, 1938 Retired February 1, 1965 27 Years Service
JOHN W. YATES Entered Department February 1, 1930 Retired May 1, 1965 35 Years Service