Miami Valley FOOLS

 

Updated 9:39 PM Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Rod Longpre has held two jobs in his life: soldier and firefighter.

He never saw combat during his years in the Army patrolling the East German border. It wasn’t until he returned to Dayton as a firefighter that he witnessed comrades being carried away on a stretcher.

The Belmont man will never forget the day in 1988 when the call came in: an explosion on Sims Street in Dayton with multiple injuries.

“In the confusion we didn’t realize that it was our own who had been injured,” Longpre recalled.

His friend and mentor, Lt. Patrick Yahle, was among the half-dozen firefighters injured in the industrial explosion. “Seeing those guys being carried from the field of battle had a profound effect on me,” Longpre said.

At first it seemed that Yahle would recover, but during his hospitalization, he threw a blood clot and died.

Longpre still gets choked up talking about his friend: “He was the best of us.”

Over time it became his mission to make sure that Yahle’s sacrifice would never be forgotten. He and his union colleagues with Dayton Firefighters Local 136 dreamed of a memorial that would honor the 58 Miami Valley firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1847. “We kept asking ourselves, ‘Why are there almost no memorials for firefighters?’ ”

Box 21 Rescue Squad Lt. Darrell Perkins joined him in his quest, organizing an annual memorial concert at Stubbs Park in Centerville and raising funds for the commission of a sculpture. A thousand fish fries later, volunteers have raised nearly $70,000 toward the $100,000 goal.

Yellow Springs artist Jon Barlow Hudson has started work on a sculpture to be installed at Stubbs Park that he calls “Fire Wall.”

Said Longpre, “A more conscientious firefighter than Pat Yahle never walked this earth. For me this sculpture means we’re never going to let anyone forget Pat or any of these men and women who gave their lives for us.”

 

Article Care Of: DDN

Updated 9:37 PM Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Jon Barlow Hudson is all too familiar with the traditional firefighters’ memorial: a bronze sculpture of a firefighter carrying a child out of a burning building, or some variation on that theme.

With his sculpture “Fire Wall” — designed to honor Miami Valley’s fallen firefighters — Hudson is aiming for something less literal, something that celebrates the spirit of the men and women he considers modern-day heroes. “They don’t have a memorial in this region, and they deserve one,” Hudson said.

Retired Dayton firefighter Rod Longpre thought so do. So did his friend Darrell Perkins of the Box 21 Rescue Squad, and they established the nonprofit Miami Valley Firefighter/EMS Memorial Association with the goal of creating a public sculpture honoring their fallen friends.

Dayton Firefighters Local 136 raised some $20,000 through bake sales, fish fries, and benefits featuring local rock bands. The Memorial Association received a $25,000 grant from the Robert E. Miller trust and two grants from the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District totaling nearly $7,000.

Spokesman Steve King said private donations have boosted the total to more than $65,000 but an additional $10,000 to $15,000 needs to be raised before construction can begin on the sculpture that will be installed at Stubbs Park in Centerville, near the natural amphitheater.

“It has been a long strange trip,” Longpre said, “and I can’t believe we’ve come this far.” The group’s Web site, mvmemorial.org, recently declared it “is very close to realizing its original goal: to create a memorial worthy of the fallen and a living monument to those who risk their lives for the Miami Valley every day.”

Two of the surviving family members served among the seven judges for the statewide Juried Arts Competition, which selected Hudson’s design. John O’Toole is the father of Washington Twp. firefighter Robert O’Toole, who died in 1998 after being struck by a car on ice-slick Interstate 675. Sandy Talley is the sister of Clayton EMT Cindy Verberg, who was killed in 2001 when a tree crushed the ambulance cab in which she was riding.

Hudson said he was honored to be selected by the family members, and touched by the realization that this project was initiated by the firefighters themselves. He also enjoys working close to home after several major commissions in China, including an original work in the Olympic Park for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and his still-in-progress sculpture for the China/U.S. Peace and Friendship Park in Beijing.

“It’s really going to be spectacular,” Longpre said of Hudson’s design. “One of the things I like about his design is that it says different things to different people.”

The 58 fallen firefighters and paramedics hail from the nine counties of the Miami Valley. The earliest recorded death was that of John Dawson of Springfield on Feb. 24, 1847; the most recent is Rose Woodbridge of Hanover Twp,, who died July 28, 2006. Edward Doudna died March 25, 1913, while rescuing victims of the Great Dayton Flood.

The names of all the dead will be inscribed on one panel of the 15-foot triangular form, which will incorporate abstract and realistic components. “Fire Wall” will be constructed from three massive steel triangles symbolizing fuel, heat and oxygen. The silhouette of a firefighter will be laser-cut into a bright aluminum tread plate that is found on most fire trucks. A cutout of the firefighter will be installed several feet behind the silhouette.

“Other people will see it differently, and I like that,” Hudson said, “but for me it symbolizes the spirit of the firefighter in the other dimension.”

Only one thing can’t be debated: The sculpture will represent the spirit of all Miami Valley firefighters who have never forgotten their fallen comrades.

 

Article Care of: DDN