By Rick Wills
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Francis Lynch often came home from work only to leave abruptly in the middle of dinner — any time the fire alarm went off.
“He struggled to raise six kids and still found the time to go out and build a community,” Michael Lynch of Fox Chapel said about his father, a volunteer firefighter and founding member of Baldwin Emergency Medical Services, one of the region’s first.
Francis Regis Lynch, a longtime Baldwin Borough resident, died Sunday, March 14, 2010. He was 81.
A native of Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington neighborhood, Mr. Lynch moved to Baldwin in 1959. Over the decades, he worked as an accountant, salesman and school bus driver.
A longtime volunteer firefighter, Mr. Lynch became interested in upgrading Baldwin’s emergency response capability in the late 1970s, a time when EMS services were on the cutting edge and showcased on hit TV shows like “Emergency!”
“Before, they would just put people with medical problems into the back of police cars,” his son said.
Mr. Lynch made a down payment for a used ambulance, Baldwin EMS’ first, with a personal check.
Baldwin EMS now serves Baldwin and Pleasant Hills and responds to more than 5,000 calls per year.
“He was a pioneer in the whole effort. He was forward-thinking and set a high standard. He set the stage for a service that would be very professional, and Baldwin EMS is still one of the premier services in the area,” said Vince Mosesso Jr., a doctor who grew up in Baldwin and knew Mr. Lynch for more than three decades.
Mosesso, who in 1979 had just graduated from college and was considering entering the priesthood, trained as an emergency medical technician while he was a volunteer firefighter in Baldwin.
Mr. Lynch’s desire to serve began long before he moved to Baldwin, friends and family members said.
Upon graduation from St. Mary of the Mount High School in 1946 at 17, Mr. Lynch enlisted in the Army and served in occupied Japan for two years. He helped clear remote outposts in mountains. He was mobilized on a ship with thousands of other soldiers for a possible engagement in Korea, though it did not occur at that time.
Postwar Japan was chaotic with rampant shortages and thriving black markets — sources of endless stories that Mr. Lynch told for the rest of his life, his son said.
“He started one day there by trading a pack of Marlboro cigarettes and ended up with a string of pearls,” Michael Lynch said.
In addition to his son, Michael, Mr. Lynch is survived by his wife, Mary Grace Petraglia Lynch of Baldwin, and five children, Noreen Gramm of Jefferson Hills, Bernadette Lynch of Mt. Washington, Dennis Lynch of Plum, Kevin Lynch of Shadyside and Chris Lynch of Orlando, Fla.; sisters, Patricia Brashear of San Diego, Ursula Owen of Detroit, Marilyn White of Green Tree and Connie Hartman of Lagrangeville, N.Y.; and a brother; Thomas Lynch of Lincoln, Neb.
He is survived by eight grandchildren.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at John F. Slater Funeral Home Inc., 4201 Brownsville Road, Brentwood. A funeral prayer will be offered at 9:15 a.m. Thursday, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in St. Albert the Great Church.
Copyright 2010 Tribune Review Publishing Company