Residents in the Village of Corfu gathered outside of the Corfu Fire Department on Saturday morning to unveil and dedicate a bench in honor of Dave Saleh for all his years of service, and for always being there for the Corfu community.
Saleh, a long time resident of Corfu and an attorney, has served the Village for over 30 years.
“He has always given his time and energy to the Village, even though he has not lived here in many years,” says Village of Corfu Mayor Tom Sargent.
“He still supports us and if we ever need anything he is the voice of our legal department. Not just that, anybody can call Dave and he will help out. He’s on everybody’s speed dial.”
Sargent says when the community found out Dave was sick and battling cancer earlier this year, the community wanted to do something to honor the time he has given to the Village.
“So we are dedicating this bench so he is always going to have a spot in our village where he can come and sit and spend time with his family.”
Saleh has also been a member of the the Corfu Fire Department for over 40 years. The department, along with the fire district, the village and private donors all contributed towards the purchase of the bench.
Saleh says he has raised his kids here and has made a lot of very close friends and the community is very close to his heart.
“I was fortunate to get training to become a lawyer and I felt like that to a great extent I owed back to the people, and for me to do things for them and I always wanted to serve the community, especially with the fire department. I just did everything I could do to help them. It’s just what I wanted to do, I felt it in my heart and obviously they felt for me in their hearts.”
Even though the unveiling of the bench today was supposed to be a surprise, Saleh says he knew of the plans for the bench. During the unveiling this morning he became a bit emotional.
“Life puts different things in front of us and just seeing the support I’ve got from this community has meant so much to me. I just get overwhelmed by stuff like this. I very much appreciate what the people have done for me.”
