A road in Gurnee, Dada Drive, is named after Sam Dada's family – and despite other pronunciations heard around town, the correct one is "Day-duh," he said. Dada Drive is located by Gurnee Fire Station No. 2, which is appropriate considering the legacy of the Dada family at Gurnee Fire Department.
Sam Dada, 84, started at Gurnee Fire Department in 1948 as an 18-year-old volunteer. He became volunteer fire chief in 1954, and Gurnee's first full-time paid fire chief in 1973. Dada received a 60-year member pin from the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association in 2013.
Sam Dada has retired to Berryville, Ark., but he'll never forget his days as a "farm boy firefighter" in good old Gurnee. He shared his memories with Gurnee Suburban Life reporter Jesse Carpender.
Carpender: You're the son of Joseph Dada, Gurnee's first fire chief. What was he like?
Dada: My father [Joseph Dada] was fire chief from 1931 until about 1941 when he went to work for the federal government as a fire prevention engineer. My folks had their own home right across from the high school (on O'Plaine Road).
My dad was an orphan, run away from the orphanage in Chicago. He hung around the stockyards downtown. Mr. (John) Eichinger told me he had a farm in Gurnee, a home on Hutchins Road just off Stearns (School Road) and he'd go to the stockyards to buy cattle. (Eichinger) had no son, just a daughter, and he told his wife "I'm going to offer that boy a home." And that's where my dad grew up.
(Joseph Dada) went to the old schoolhouse on Stearns School Road. He served in the Navy by the Mediterranean Sea during World War I. He met my mother in Gurnee. My mother belonged to the Garden Club, she liked to be around flowers. He and my mother planted a vegetable garden. They were members of the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary. In those days, most everyone got involved in a small town.
My mother passed away in 1984, and my dad passed away in 1963. We loved him dearly. He was a hard-working man.
Carpender: And you followed in his footsteps?
Dada: I wanted to be a firefighter when I was a little kid. I'd get spankings because I'd follow my dad to fires – I'd follow him anyway. He didn't want little kids around getting hurt.
Carpender: What was the fire station like when you were growing up?
Dada: Back then (circa 1930-1940, the volunteer fire station) was in McClure's Garage, and almost everyone who worked for McClure's was a fireman. If you were getting your tire fixed and the siren on the big steel tower on the McClure's roof went off, you might as well sit down because you had to wait a while. Mrs. Ray was the switchboard operator and she'd slide open a window and holler down about what the problem was. My dad worked at McClure's when Rowley McClure was there.
Carpender: Do you remember building the first fire station?
Dada: I helped out building it as a young man. The property was owned by Modern Woodman Lodge, and when it dissolved they gave it to the village to be used for a fire station. Most of the guys at the lodge were volunteer firemen, so that was good for them. Most of the construction was done by volunteer firemen, and materials were donated. The station on Old Grand Avenue now is the second station on that property.
I remember working on the station with Frank Bellek – Rowley McClure's son-in-law – and the siren went off. We ran to get the fire truck instead of taking our cars which were parked nearby. In those days, Gurnee was surrounded by farms and we'd get a lot of calls out in the country. We'd get grass fires, a lot were from heating equipment or carelessness. I think [the causes of fires] changed as we got older. A lot of the calls were about outdated equipment.
Carpender: What were the biggest fires in your career?
Dada: There was a big fire at [Warren Township High School] started by one of the students in the early 1980s. I remember it was on a Thursday before Christmas break. It was a pretty major fire, the school was badly damaged. If my memory serves me right, they were able to rent a building from Lake Forest High School system until repairs were done. The kid who did it was caught.
The Rustic Manor [restaurant] fire was hell. It was early in the morning, in January. I had a fire phone at the head of my bed and it went off. We got the guys pushed out and over there, and there was heavy smoke showing. It was very cold. We had half the departments in Lake County out there. The owners, Viktor Trybom and Marion Trybom were there. It was a sad day because many people outside Gurnee knew about Gurnee because of Rustic Manor.
Carpender: How would you approach people facing a tragedy like that?
Dada: You'd try to tell them what was going on, console them, ask them if there was anything they wanted you to try to save. It's not easy to see people lose their business, home or loved one, but it happens. It wasn't always the easiest job, but it was a great job and I loved it. I'm very grateful for my time at Gurnee Fire Department and the men and women who served with us.
Carpender: What was Gurnee Fire Department like when you were fire chief 1954-1989?
Dada: We had eight to 12 men. A lot worked out of town. As time went on, we graduated from a band-aid rescue squad to a paramedic rescue service. Art Walton, the former mayor's brother, was very interested in the medical part of it. He helped me convince people that that's where we should go. Then we purchased our first ambulance.
As the department grew, I convinced the village we needed full-time people. We got our first full-time personnel in 1977. In my last year or so, they started building Gurnee Mills and we had excellent cooperation with the builders.
Carpender: What was your daily life like?
Dada: When I started out, I was a single man. I started the first public works department and in the winter, it would be plow snow one minute, fight fires the next. My wife Corrine and I graduated high school together in 1947. I married her, we had five children and bought a house on Old Grand Avenue. Life was pretty busy.
Carpender: Was it daunting when Six Flags Great America was built and you had to think about doing rescues there?
Dada: Oh yes. We had no idea. When Marriott Corp. built Six Flags, they flew some of us to California to see a similar park they were building there. That was very important to us. I remember when it opened, all that parking lot. We got permission to practice in our new ladder truck in their parking lot, and the guys backed the truck into one of those little rock islands with a tree. No harm came of it.
In [Six Flags'] early days, they had a cable car ride that went over the park. We had an episode when the wind blew the cars around and the cable jumped off the pulleys. The ride was stopped, and there were three or four cars with people in them. Chicago Fire Department had a special truck they brought out. We brought people down the ladder in harnesses, the safe way.
I remember me, a little farm boy fire department chief, with the guys from the big city. The Chicago fire chief addressed me as "chief" and he told me they'd help with whatever we needed. That's the kind of cooperation you get there.
Carpender: How's it feel to have a road named after your family?
Dada: They named Dada Drive because my father was the first fire chief, my brother was township assessor and I was a fire chief. When that area joined Gurnee, the village decided to name a road after our family. It was an honor to me, but also to the memory of my family's service. The fire station on the corner of Dada Drive is dedicated to me and my dad.
Carpender: What do you tell people about Gurnee?
Dada: Gurnee is home. It always will be home to me and my wife. It's always in my heart. It's a great town, governed by great people. It's grown tremendously, but it's grown with pride and purpose.