The Rhode Island Southern Firefighter's League has bestowed its first Frederick A. Stanley Dedicated Service Award to Justin Lee, who took over from Stanley in 2015 as chief of the Hope Valley-Wyoming Fire Department.
The award was presented during the league's Legislative Night ceremony in late January.
"It's humbling to even be considered," said Lee, who succeeded Stanley upon the former fire chief's retirement. "His dedication to our community and our fire services was unprecedented. It was his whole life; he gave up everything for us."
Stanley served his community for nearly 65 years, and received the league's service award himself a year ago, shortly after announcing that he was ending his long run as its president. The award was then renamed in his honor. Stanley was fire chief for Hope Valley-Wyoming from 1964 until 2015, and had remained active on state and regional committees until last year.