John Tedorski focused on helping other people — as a teacher, firefighter, city councilman and father.

“He didn't want notoriety,” said his wife, Joan Tedorski. “It gave him great pleasure to do something for someone, no matter what it was.”

John Chester Tedorski, 81, of Arnold died Friday, March 17, 2017, at home.

Mr. Tedorski served 56 years with the Arnold Volunteer Engine Company No. 2, including 16 years as chief. He was an Arnold city councilman for more than a decade and was the emergency management coordinator for the city.

He had been a teacher at Gateway High School in Monroeville for 35 years, where he taught industrial arts and coached the golf team.

He was an instructor for the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, where he helped train new instructors.

“He's regarded as a very educated teacher of the fire service,” said Monroeville Fire Company No. 6 Deputy Chief Harold Katofsky, who first met Mr. Tedorski in the early 1970s as a freshman at Gateway High School.

John Charles Tedorski followed his father as a firefighter and a teacher. He became a business education teacher and is the technology coordinator at Kiski Area High School. He has served as Arnold's overall fire chief since 2008, something he said filled his father with pride.

“Both of my parents raised me that you don't just sit on the couch and watch TV,” he said. “You find someone who needs some help and you do it.”

J.C. Tedorski said he had “lots of little counseling conversations” with his dad.

“He truly was a mentor to me, not only in life but in the fire chief's position,” he said. “I try every day to be the fire chief he was. I'll never be able to do it.”

Joan Tedorski said she met her future husband on the first day of her freshman year in high school. They dated off and on, and married after graduating from separate colleges. The marriage lasted 57 years.

“For once in my life, I made a smart choice,” she said. “I married a man who was decent, honest, caring and went out of his way to help other people. What more can you look for in a husband?”

While concerned for her husband's safety, Mrs. Tedorski said she never wanted him to give up being a firefighter.

“This is what he loved to do,” she said. “You put it out of your mind, and when it's all over you go, ‘Well, he did the right thing like he always does. He's fine; why am I worrying?' ”

John Campbell, a former Arnold mayor and councilman who served in government and fire service with Mr. Tedorski, said he was always looking out for the betterment of the community, such as by getting grants to buy police cars.

“John worked feverishly for the City of Arnold,” Campbell said. “There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for the city.”

Campbell said he and his wife traveled a few times with the Tedorskis to Mr. Tedorski's favorite destination — Disney World in Florida.

“John and Joan loved to go down there. They know that park inside out and then some,” he said. “He seemed so relaxed. It was like a different world for John. He was like a kid all over again.”

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday at the Rusiewicz Funeral Home, 1400 Fifth Ave., Arnold. Firefighter services will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.

A blessing service will be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, followed by a Christian Funeral Mass at St. Mary Church in New Kensington. Burial will follow at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Lower Burrell.

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4701 or at brittmeyer@tribweb.com.

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