"My Dad"

On April 8, 1999 my life change irrevocably.

At 11:23 AM, I found out that my father had died suddenly. There was no warning as he had not been sick for years.

My dad was a very busy man often coming home late from doing some communtity activity. He had been an EMT and a Rural Fireman for 18 years and became the mentor and sounding board for many of the younger guys. I knew that he found his work as an EMT/FF very fulfulling but I had no idea what my dad had meant to the rest of the crew or even the rest of the town until the day of his funeral.

On that day, I witnessed something I had never seen before. The church had no empty seats and as I walked out sitting in a group were all the EMTs sitting together in uniform along with the FF's who were not EMTs. Outside the church, the firetruck that my dad had helped to rebuild was waiting to escort us to the cemetary and the prosession went right by the ambulance barn. All of the ambulances were out front polished to perfection just waiting for my dad to go by one last time. I always knew that my dad was very special to me but I learned that day that he was special to everyone in our small rural community.

I hope this is the kind of story you want on your site. I am without a dad but I cherish the years and the memories we had as a family. He was a very special man.

Anonymous