Written by Caitlyn Dorman and Ella Gentile<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working in his farmer shop at the Marketplace Mall on Main Street, 89-year-old Burt is still living with the same spark he has carried throughout his life through his years of service. Once in the military and a Cortland firefighter, his stories reflect humor and heartbreak throughout his years and memories built in the town of Cortland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sept. 11, 2001, like any other day, Burt was working his job as a mall manager at the Marketplace mall 64 Main St, when suddenly his buddy called him into his office where the television was on displaying the events of the 9\/11 attack on the twin towers. Burt was truly in disbelief, and he had never seen anything like this happen before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was confused,\u201d Burt said. \u201cBut unfortunately, that day I kept working like nothing happened. I know that sounds bad, but I don\u2019t think it really hit me what had just happened.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the day felt like a blur for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On September 12, 2001, just one day after the tragic event, Burt needed faith. He decided to go to Episcopal church right in the center of town where he couldn\u2019t even find a seat. Finding faith in the community was something people could turn to but the hard truth everyone had to face was that you can\u2019t bring things back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople just wanted to say something or listen to someone,\u201d said Burt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tragedy of 9\/11 still breaks Burt\u2019s heart. As someone who had been in service and a firefighter, all he could do is think about how many lives were lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a firefighter, I lost brothers I didn\u2019t know,\u201d said Burt with a shaky voice. \u201cThere are still people unaccounted for. Firefighters don\u2019t stand around, they go headfirst\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born May 20, 1936, Burt, a veteran, retired firefighter, and active member of the Cortland community, was in the service stationed in France for 3 years, 1955-1958, before returning home to Cortland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI joined the service on August 12, 1955,” he said proudly. \u201cThree years later, I was out, my number was 1305663\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Returning from the military Burt still didn\u2019t find a purpose. However, one day he found himself painting his mother house on a huge ladder and was interrupted by his friend George Smith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe saw me up on the ladder and said \u2018You\u2019re not afraid of heights, aren\u2019t you? How about joining the fire department?\u2019\u201d Burt recalled his memory with a laugh. \u201cSo I took the test, passed and started in 1969.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He joined the Cortland firefighters when he was thirty years old and retired twenty years later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing a firefighter is a young man’s game,\u201d Burt said. \u201cYou’re either going to be alive or you\u2019re not, but it\u2019s worth it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Decades later, 9\/11 remains a reminder that your life can change rapidly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou never know,\u201d Burt said. \u201cI\u2019m an eighty-year-old cancer survivor and I enjoy life. I love to joke, laugh, and enjoy the company of my friends. Life\u2019s too short not to laugh, you have to enjoy it while you can.\u201d <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Caitlyn Dorman and Ella Gentile Working in his farmer shop at the Marketplace Mall on Main Street, 89-year-old Burt is still living with the same spark he has carried throughout his life through his years of service. Once in the military and a Cortland firefighter, his stories reflect humor and heartbreak throughout his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"featured_media":10578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-28-2026-at-01_28_42-PM-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-28-2026-at-01_28_42-PM-600x600.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Special Contribution to the Dragon Chronicle","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/author\/paul-arras\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/dragon-chronicle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}