(The Advocate of CC) Fallen fireman, EMT remembered for dedication
Denis Michael Coan
Here’s one of the first pieces I wrote for The Advocate of Hampstead and Manchester. While the start of my job at The Advocate has been an exciting time, this story shows a more somber moment. It is a profile piece on a Manchester volunteer firefighter who recently died at 72, after battling leukemia for several months.
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Those at the Manchester volunteer fire company are still coming to terms with the loss of a firefighter who cannot be replaced.
Volunteer fireman and EMT Denis Michael Coan, of Westminster, died Thursday, June 23, after battling leukemia for the past several months. He was 72. He joined the Manchester volunteer fire company July 1, 2004, but fire company members would swear he had been there much longer than seven years. MVFD President Elwin Wagner said Coan had called the fire department his second home since first becoming a volunteer firefighter.
“Some people come in and don’t really get involved too much. Others come at it wholeheartedly. And that’s what Denis did,” Wagner said.
Prior to serving the community as a volunteer fireman in Manchester, Coan was an intelligence communications analyst for the National Security Agency. He also served in the Marine Corps from 1961 to 1965. Along with becoming a part of the MVFD, he was also a member of the Pleasant Hill volunteer fire company in Hanover, Pa, according to Wagner.
Manchester Fire Chief Scott Hahn said Coan spoke of the volunteer firefighting service as something he wished he had done his whole life, despite having made a career with the NSA.
Read the full article on The Advocate of CC website.
Daniel J. Gross 
I found this article last night while searching for something else. I read it with tears streaming down my face because this is my brother. I can,t tell you how much it meant to see his peers speak of him like that, but he was the most gentle and loving man, He was like the pied-piper whenever he came home to visit, everyone wanted to come and see him and listen to his stories of his life experiences.
My cousin from Pa. summed it up best in a card that she designed for me. When God created Denis, He was just showing off!!
Best of luck to you in your carreer–I hope you can touch others lives in the way that you touched my family.
Patricia Williot