I just had the painful experience of having to say goodbye to yet another great man. Just days before his diagnosis, he was telling me about strange
leg pains he had been having.
Ignorantly, I laughed at the fact that he was finally starting to feel “old”. I reminded him of his need for reading
glasses at an ICS class we attended together (a crutch that I soon discovered I would rely on within the year, as
well). After over 30 years of fire
service, time was beginning to take its toll on both of us. Of
course, you wouldn’t know it to look at him.
He stood there in his city uniform, having just got off a long shift at
work, followed by a municipal meeting, and now he stood in one of the stations
where he was a volunteer chief officer overseeing modification to the rescue
truck that were in progress. The gray
hair was starting to win the battle on his head, and his indulgence in
firehouse culinary treats was tipping his belt buckle ever so slightly, but he
was still running full speed, just as he did his entire life, fearless and
unstoppable.
He asked me to bring some equipment from my station to try
some different mounting configurations for equipment they had recently
ordered. I remember feeling honored that
my opinions were both sought and respected.
That was our relationship; professional respect, personal connection,
and typical ass-busting that comes with the territory. Over
the years, our relationship took many twists and turns. We “tuxed-up” for each other at the altar, he
helped me land my first “uniformed” job, and I helped him test his Vascar. We fought bad guys together, we fought fires
together, and we dug people out of cars together more times than I can
remember. We talked strategy, we talked
firehouse politics, we dreamed, and we laughed.
We also disagreed…a lot; usually about strategies, firehouse politics,
and even our personal dreams. Watching
him in action, I could never decide if I should admire the way he risked his
life, or chastise him for nearly getting himself killed. I remember one nasty double fatal where he lambasted me for pulling his crew out, keeping them from getting killed. There was no one left to save that morning, but he hated that we gave up trying. The risk was not worth the reward. We were never angrier at each other, even
though we both knew the other was right.
This news, however, was chilling; a malignant brain tumor!
He had bounced back from so many
line-of-duty injuries in his career, we all believed he could do it one more
time. And he believed it as well. We often hear talk of people “bravely
battling cancer”, but he was the poster child for the stubborn fight. We watched as he boldly stated that he would
beat this “thing” as he called it. He then
took action, doing everything the doctors asked, and then some. If anyone could beat this beast, he
could.
The fight raged on, lasting so much longer that any doctor
thought it would. Those extra months with him, while difficult to comprehend, were certainly cherished by his family, friends and comrades. Even as treatments
seemed to be losing ground, somehow he still believed. I personally don’t know when he finally
realized that this was a battle he could not win, we never discussed that when
I visited. Perhaps he never gave up
hope. Nevertheless, he was a realist, a
planner, so it was no surprise that he was more concerned about everyone else than himself. That is one of the characteristics that made
him so great. When people pass away, they say “He is in a better place”. Whatever your beliefs are, you have to
believe that the place where he is now just got better when he arrived.
As the sadness of his death passes, the celebration of his
life will go on. I have many fond
memories that I will cherish, and many lesson that I have learned from knowing
him. I will certainly recall and share the multitude of great stories where he is one of the main characters. His passion for duty and crazy sense of adventure was unmatched. His greatness as a public servant,
devoted father, loving husband, emergency responder, leader, and great friend
will inspire me for the rest of my life.
For now, I join so many others as we struggle through tearful eyes to
focus on our lives without him.
Rest easy, brother, we will take it from here.
RONALD E. “MOOSE” WENTZEL, JR.
11-13-62 - 1-12-14
