PHOTOS: For a generation of Americans, the moment they learned of President John F. Kennedy’s death is seared into their memories. For Beth Costanza, it was the day 40 years ago when she lost her uncle John.
Lt. John Costanza was on duty at the Framingham Fire Department that Sunday afternoon. The family listened to an emergency radio on days when he worked. Beth Costanza knew the department was busy that day, but she didn’t remember hearing anything about her uncle. Then the phone rang as they sat down to dinner. “I just remember my mother running out of the house,” said Beth Costanza, who was 12 at the time.
John Costanza, a 15-year member of the department, was killed on March 18, 1979 after he became trapped inside the third-floor bedroom of a home at 337 Concord St. He left behind a wife and two children, forever changing both the Costanza family and the fire department, which dedicated itself to improving safety in the years that followed.