ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) – New York State will engrave 29 new names to the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Albany, including one firefighter from Ithaca.

The memorial is located at Empire State Plaza and now honors 2,660 of New York’s firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty. Governor Kathy Hochul declared Tuesday Firefighter Appreciation Day during the ceremony. She spoke to fire department personnel from across New York and the loved ones of men and women who have passed away, thanking them for their sacrifice.

 

Credit: Ithaca Fire Department/Keith Goehner

Among those honored this year was Daryl Lynn Pace of the Ithaca Fire Department, who passed away from cancer related to her job in 2019. Pace was born in Johnson City, New York and graduated from Homer High School in 2000 before getting her bachelor’s degree at SUNY Cortland. Pace worked at the Ithaca Fire Department for 10 years before she got sick and was well respected by her peers. Pace was just 36 at the time of her death.