James L. Grote; Active Fire Marshal Was 100

James L. Grote, 100, believed the nation’s oldest active fire marshal. More than 1,000 firefighters from across Connecticut are expected to attend services Wednesday for Grote, who founded the Chester, Conn., Fire Department in 1912 and served as the town’s fire marshal for 69 years until his death. “I never learned to write the words quit , resign or retire ,” Grote said before his 100th birthday celebration last May 18. “I like my work. It is something that I live for.” “He has been an institution for all of us,” said David Paige, the state’s deputy commissioner of public safety. Grote also was Chester’s postmaster from 1935 to 1961. Nickie Novinski, Grote’s youngest daughter, attributed her father’s good health through the years to keeping active. “He didn’t drink or smoke, and he always told me to eat my Rice Krispies,” she said. In Middletown, Conn., on Saturday.