By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Frank Edwardi Sr. smiled as a procession of bright red Sea Isle City fire trucks pulled up in front of his family’s home at 72nd Street and Central Avenue in a grand tribute to him.
Few people have been more important to public safety in Sea Isle in the past 50 years than Edwardi, who joined the city’s volunteer fire department in 1969 and took over as chief in 2011 before retiring in 2019.
Family members, friends and city officials honored the 77-year-old Edwardi on Wednesday evening during a ceremony that included fond remembrances of his career as fire chief and as Sea Isle’s harbormaster.
“I want to say thank you to everyone very much. You made my day,” he told a crowd of about 60 people.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio and City Council members William Kehner, Mary Tighe, Jack Gibson and J.B. Feeley presented Edwardi with a plaque honoring his service to Sea Isle.
“I always looked up to you at the station. I thought you were one of the coolest dudes,” Desiderio told Edwardi.
At the end of his remarks, Desiderio prompted applause from the crowd by saying, “Frank, we love you!”
There was also a very special member of City Council at the ceremony, Frank Edwardi Jr., his son. Frank Edwardi Jr. planted a kiss on his father’s cheek as he sat in a golf cart during the ceremony.
“Ever since his first day at the fire department, he loved the firemen and he loved being chief,” Edwardi Jr. said. “It means a lot to him to finally be recognized in the right way.”
Other members of the Edwardi family were on hand, including his wife, Kathleen, his other son, Anthony, and his grandchildren. Edwardi and his 73-year-old wife have been married for 54 years.
“I really do enjoy it. A lot of my old friends are here,” he said about the ceremony.
Looking back at his career, he recalled in an interview that the firefighters he served with and supervised for 50 years were a dedicated and “tough bunch.”
“I feel pretty good. It was a long time,” he said of his career.
In a poignant salute to the former chief, a procession of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles rolled down Central Avenue with lights flashing before stopping in front of the Edwardi home.
Firefighters led by the current chief, John Mazurie, each shook the elder Edwardi’s hand and joined with him in a group photo. Mazurie also presented his predecessor with a plaque.
Edwardi Sr.’s public service also included serving as Sea Isle’s former harbormaster overseeing the municipal marina. He also became well known in the community as the owner of the former Edwardi’s Sunoco Station, a fixture at the corner of 49th Street and Landis Avenue.
“He was also a top-notch mechanic. He fixed many people’s cars,” recalled Mike Monichetti, a close friend of the Edwardi family and owner of Mike’s Seafood & Dock Restaurant in Sea Isle.
Three generations of the Edwardi family have worked at Mike’s Seafood, including Edwardi Sr., who was a cook and a counter person for 30 years.
With a laugh, Monichetti noted that Edwardi pretended at times to be the “Mike” in Mike’s Seafood during good-natured moments with customers.
“The funniest thing is, everybody thought he was Mike. He never told them differently,” Monichetti said. “To this day, they think he’s Mike.”
But Monichetti stressed that Edwardi clearly established his own identity, reputation and accomplishments during all the years he has lived in the resort community.
“I think he has been a friend to everybody in Sea Isle. I don’t think there’s a more well-liked and respected man in Sea Isle,” Monichetti said. “He has always been there to lend a hand to anyone in need.”
