Celebrating 30 Years of Service
Greetings and welcome to spring. What a great time of year, although it always seems to be very busy. I hope everyone is doing well. For me, spring, or early spring, means time for a visit to Southern Stone County where I make an annual trip to Table Rock Lake to fish for spoonbill. I find it funny that a group of us travel 150 miles for this yet some of the locals don’t even know what snagging for spoonbill is. Oh well, their loss.
So many activities are coming up. Firefighter Day in Jefferson City is April 5th. Fire Marshall Tim Bean would like to have a large turnout this year to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Division of Fire Safety. This day is a good opportunity to come to Jefferson City and meet with your legislators. It is up to us to discuss important matters with them so they can see we are vested in the future of the fire service. They need to hear that we would like them to help preserve the future of the fire service and this is a great opportunity to do so.
In May we will have our annual memorial service in Kingdom City. The dates are May 14-15. Always leading up to the memorial are a few scheduled workdays to clean up and prepare the property. All help is appreciated on these days. The committee members’ contact information is on the website. If you would like to help, please reach out to them. I am sure they would appreciate all the help they can get.
The annual convention will be May 6-8. Washington Volunteer Fire Company will be hosting this year. They are working hard to put on a great convention. Information is available on their website at washmofire.org.
Contest teams are needed for Saturday morning’s competition. There are three divisions, firefighter, female, and cadets so plenty of opportunities for you to bring a team. If your fire department is new to the games or would like to get started, you can contact me and I will help however I can to get your team started.
The fire service is full of traditions and history. This year marks my 30th year in the fire service. An amount of time I would have never thought I would invest in volunteering. Many ups and downs, highs and lows thru my time. That being said, I cannot tell you how proud I am that while receiving my 30-year pin at our department’s annual awards banquet I had a son-in-law receive his 10-year pin. Also, that night his daughter Hailey was recognized for starting with our department as a cadet firefighter. They always say to leave it better than you found it. As these two continue their careers, I feel I have done that. Ours is not the only family able to boast this fact, so I will give credit where credit is due. The Nichols family also started their 3rd generation of firefighters. Steve Nichols’ granddaughter Brooke started as a cadet firefighter this year also. Steve’s son Scott was recognized for 20 years of service.
Remember this is your organization and we are here to serve you. I hope to see you at many of the upcoming events. If there is anything I can assist you with please feel free to contact me anytime by phone, text or email. 573-473-0972, roberdel@ktis.net. Thanks for what you do for your communities and be safe.
FFAM
