Rick Bacmanski

Isn’t it funny how things just seem to happen for a reason? I had this past Saturday off without a Wedding Shoot, and that’s not too common an occurrence during the middle of July. But as fate would have it that worked out for the best, as last week an old Fire Department Buddy of mine passed away after a long illness. Thomas Lynch was his name……Tommy to his friends….he owned and ran Hibbard’s Hardware in Hanover Square when we were all growing up. So it was the middle of the week when my good friend HFD Chief Artie Sullivan asked if I was available on Saturday, and if I could shoot Tommy’s Funeral services, that would be held at the Station right across the street from my Studio…and as luck would have it I could.

Tommy  was 74 years old, and a Volunteer for 51 years with our Horseheads Fire Department, and back in the ’70’s when I was also a HFD member, I got to share some fun times with Tommy on the Softball Field and also in the local  Bowling Alleys. He and I, we both bowled a lot and we prided ourselves on being(or at least thinking) that we were pretty good……. so that being said we always joked around with each other….whenever one of us was really sucking up the alleys by having a bad night, missed an easy shot, left a split, or especially if we sucked while out of town at a Fire Department Tournament, we always had  something special to yell at each other, right at that moment when we were so pissed that we either blew an easy shot, or just threw a terrible ball….we’d always yell….”BOWL MUCH?”  , and then bust out laughing! Tommy was the first of my teammates on our old softball team to pass away.
Rest In Peace my friend….and every time I’ll hear the thunder from now on, I’ll think of you and quietly mouth the words while asking that time tested question …..“Bowl Much?”