When Louis C. Shuey had to tell someone his name, the question was always the same.

"Every time he would go anywhere, people would ask, 'Are you related to the guy who has the 'Shuey Burger?'" said his son, John Paul Shuey.

Yes, those onion-smothered burgers sold as a fundraiser by Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department Hose Company No. 8 were named after Lou Shuey, a longtime member and assistant chief.

"I always loved when people would ask me that," John Paul Shuey said, adding he could tell the inquirers the burger was named after his dad. "I was so proud of that."

Louis C. Shuey, a lifelong Greensburg resident, died Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011, in Excela Health and Hospice Center, Jeannette. He was 88.

Mr. Shuey, a son of the late William E. and Margaret Bach Shuey, was destined to be a Greensburg firefighter.

His father was a volunteer with the department, and Mr. Shuey spent much of his childhood hanging out at the station, his son said.

For 40 years, Mr. Shuey served as an assistant fire chief, retiring from active service with the department about the time he retired from his job with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County in 1991.

"He just loved helping people, but he never wanted anything in return," John Paul Shuey said.

For a long time, Mr. Shuey handled the fire department's finances, said Greensburg fire Chief Edward Hutchinson.

"He was exceptionally good," Hutchinson said. "He was always dependable. He was just a hell of a good man."

Hutchinson and John Paul Shuey recalled the January 1963 fire at St. Vincent College. Mr. Shuey was foreman of a crew that was installing a waterline in Greensburg when he heard the fire call.

He took off with the water authority crew in his truck and they all helped with the fire, spending the entire day there.

"He got his behind reamed pretty good," John Paul Shuey said of the water authority's reaction.

Between his work with the authority and his work with the fire department, Mr. Shuey always seemed to be running from one emergency to another.

His water company truck was even equipped with sirens and lights.

"When the fire bell rang, I'd jump in the truck with him and ride to the station with him," said John Paul Shuey, who himself is a Greensburg firefighter. "... We never went on vacation. He'd take all of his (time off) up at the fire station. For us, that was vacation, but we loved it. We wouldn't change anything about our childhood."

Every year, during Hose Company No. 8's annual carnival, Mr. Shuey would take his vacation to volunteer there.

It was at those annual carnivals that the department started cooking and selling hamburgers smothered in onions. Mr. Shuey took the lead in their preparation, ordering the meat, the buns and everything else needed.

"After awhile, it just became the Shuey Burger as it is today," John Paul Shuey said. "I think it was pretty much just the fact he put so much time and effort into it, you had no choice but to call it the Shuey Burger."

Today, the hose company holds burger bashes several times a year. They even take the burger on the road to other community events.

Greensburg's Director of Emergency Management Les Harvey said when he arrived in the city in the early 1970s, a meeting with Mr. Shuey led him to join Hose Company No. 8. One of his first assignments was to work with Mr. Shuey on the burgers, which long before had been named in his honor.

Harvey considered Mr. Shuey a mentor.

"He was a very sincere person, very much willing and always gave his 110 percent to the fire department," Harvey said. "It was almost like he set an example of what it was to be committed as a volunteer."

In addition to his parents and wife, Mr. Shuey was preceded in death by his wife, Blanche Stanick Shuey; a son, Mark Shuey; two sisters and a brother.

He is survived by three children, Dr. Louise Pavia and husband, John, of Wexford, William Shuey and wife, Carol, of Bovard, and John Paul Shuey and wife, Melinda, of Greensburg; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a brother and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Clement L. Pantalone Funeral Home Inc., 409 W. Pittsburgh St., where the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department is holding a memorial service at 7 tonight.

Memorial gifts may be made to Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 924, Greensburg, PA 15601.

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