EAST OTTO, N.Y. — East Otto lost a friend, firefighter and sheriff’s office dispatcher in one on Monday.
Tim Lexer was riding a tractor lawnmower on the shoulder of East Otto Road heading south when a car hit his tractor from behind, launching him off the tractor and into a ditch. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tim was doing what he so often does, yardwork for his wife’s family.
“He was coming back from there. That was his favorite place to mow lawns, that was his happy place,” Tim’s sister Debbie Golley said.
Debbie feels Tim’s happy place was to give his time to others.
Not only did he enjoy spending his time mowing his family’s yard, but he also worked for 42 years as a volunteer firefighter in East Otto, 11 of which as the fire chief of the East Otto Volunteer Fire Department.
At the same time, he worked 18 years as a Cattaraugus Sheriff’s Office dispatcher.
“He was a community person, gave in everything he did,” Debbie said. “He loved [working for the sheriff’s office], that was his job. He worked nights. He worked anytime they needed him. He worked more than he probably should have. We always told him to take a day off, but he wouldn’t.”
“He was that calm and collected voice that was on the other end of the radio,” Tim’s coworker at the Cattaraugus Sheriff’s Office and Fire Chief of the Otto Volunteer Fire Department Trisha Priest said. “It was very devastating to know that we had lost such an amazing man that has dedicated his life to this community.”
As much as Tim loved his community, his daughter Heather Kagelmacher feels that his greatest joy wasn’t his employment, it was always his family and being a grandfather.
“He’s a fantastic grandpa, he’s my kids’ papa,” Heather said. “Sometimes you cry, sometimes you laugh, sometimes you just try to see the good in what you remember from him… Just try to remember things that bring you smiles.”
While the investigation into the crash continues, Tim’s family is trying to find comfort in the many memories he created with them and the legacy he leaves behind as a grandfather of six, father of five, brother, husband, and friend to an entire community.
