It has been three years since Shirley Brady lost the love of her life.

"He loved the union, he loved his fire buddies, and I thought this is the least I can do. We were married over 55 years,” Shirley said.

Besides being her husband, Lt. Terry Brady was an Albany firefighter for nearly 30 years before retiring in 1991. Now, his wife is making sure his legacy is never forgotten.

Wednesday morning, in front of firefighters past and present, inside the hook and ladder number four where Terry was a firefighter for most of his career, Shirley was acknowledged for her gracious act.

“It really means a lot to us, this is a significant amount of money,” said former Albany Fire Chief Warren Abdriel.

Shirley donated $50,000, all of which will go towards building and maintaining an Albany fire museum.

“[It has been] 150 years as a paid department, and there's a big interest in this type of museum,” Abdriel said.

Abdriel himself is on the museum board. He says the hope is to have a museum up and running within five years.

“The best thing we could hope for is to have some type of building donated that doesn’t need too much repair,” Abdriel said.

Also on the to do list is collecting artifacts for the museum like helmets, which currently sit inside the Albany Firemen's Federal Credit Union. Once the museum is created, these helmets and badges, along with Lt. Brady’s old equipment, will be moved inside.

“The museum is something that so many people could go visit and get familiar with, and I think it would be a bigger tribute to him,” Shirley said.