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Residents remember former city leader
By BOB McCLURE
| Article published on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 |
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| John Ter Burgh poses for a shot in the early 1970s prior to an organized burn by the Seminole Volunteer Fire Department. |
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SEMINOLE – Longtime friends and family mourned the loss of one of Seminole’s principal founders last week.
John Ter Burgh, who is best remembered as one of the founders of the Seminole Volunteer Fire Department, died Jan. 5 at Suncoast Hospital in Largo. He was 96.
“He was a jewel of a man.” said longtime Seminole resident Martha Mohn, who used to ring the bell for the volunteer fire department. “He was not only a good man but a man that would rather give than receive.”
“We fought many a fire together. We laughed. We argued,” said Harold “Doc” Kinsey, a former Seminole firefighter and outgoing president of the Seminole Chamber of Commerce. “If he didn’t like something, he would outright tell you. Plus, he was a great fisherman.”
Ter Burgh, a native of Kalamazoo, Mich., moved to the area in 1948 and entered the masonary construction business in Largo.
He helped organize the Seminole Vounteer Fire Department in 1958, beginning a 20-year stint as a community leader.
He donated the land for the construction of the city’s first fire station and served on the Seminole City Council from 1970-72.
Following his retirement, he moved to Trenton, Fla., in 1978 where he lived on the banks of the Suwannee River and pursued his hobbies of fishing and gardening. He moved back to Seminole in 2002.
Ter Burgh was honored by the city of Seminole in 1974 for his many contributions and received a second honor for his 20 years of service to the Seminole Volunteer Fire Department. During the fire department’s recent 50th anniversary, he was awarded a key to the city of Seminole for his many years of dedication to the community.
Survivors include his daughter, Martha Puff, and grandson Michael Puff, of Montara, Calif.; a sister-in-law, Ann Ter Burgh of Flint, Mich.; a granddaughter, Lauren Gabriel of Fort White, Fla., her husband John and their children, Brennon and Mason; a granddaughter, Aimee Stubbs of Treasure Island, her husband Bob and their children Madeline, Mackenzie and Andrew; and Marie Cekau of Treasure Island.
Ter Burgh was preceded in death by two wives, June Naomi Ter Burgh who died in 1976; and Helen Cekau Ter Burgh who died in 2002.
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Article published on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009
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