METUCHEN -- James Michael Ratcliffe was remembered yesterday as a low-key man who loved the Giants football team, spoiled his cats and spent the better part of his life serving the residents of Metuchen as a volunteer.
The former chief of the Metuchen Fire Department was mourned at a funeral service at St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in the borough. About 130 people attended.
"He didn't like the limelight," said his friend, Jim Wallace.
Wallace recalled Ratcliffe as a devoted churchgoer frequently seen sitting quietly in back of the church.
Wallace spoke of the 40 years of service that Ratcliffe, who died May 3 at the age of 62, gave to the borough Fire Department.
"That was 40 years of a very short life," he said.
Ratcliffe found himself in the audience of a similar service recently for his friend, former Fire Chief Harold "Skip" Breen.
Ratcliffe read a passage from the Bible during the April 11 funeral service at the cathedral and, while in the funeral procession, suffered a stroke that led to his death. It was considered a line-of-duty death, officials said.
Both Ratcliffe and Wallace were honored at a Fire Department dinner in March for the four decades of volunteering they both devoted to Metuchen.
"His life was an exciting life," the Rev. John Gloss, the associate pastor of St. Francis, said of Ratcliffe. "It was a life that was filled with service."
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