STEPHANIE ZEILSTRA
Reprinted by permission of the St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, MO)
Inside: Post/View Condolences
Photo by IVAL LAWHON JR., St. Joseph News-Press
Tammy Brown, Travis Brown's widow, is escorted from the funeral service at North Platte High School by Bill Moore, a captain with the St. Joseph Fire Department.
|
Three bagpipes played during a memorial service Tuesday for Travis Brown, a member of the Dearborn Fire Department, as family and friends silently mourned their loss.
He was honored by more than 200 firefighters, EMT personnel and members of police departments from Kansas and Missouri who came in support of a fallen brother.
Mr. Brown, 30, left behind his wife, Tammy, and five children when he died responding to a fire early Saturday morning near Edgerton. Another firefighter has admitted to authorities, but later pleaded innocent, to setting the barn fire.
The Rev. Fred McDaniel, chaplain for the Camden Point Fire Department gave the homily, and said the community as well as the brotherhood of firefighters are hurt and torn as they remember Mr. Brown.
"In his love for his family, community, nursing and as a firefighter " a job he did with dedication and integrity " in these, Travis displayed God’s love," Mr. McDaniel said. "We can’t help but ask why, but there is no way as human beings we’ll ever understand."
The memorial service, held at the North Platte High School, included scripture readings from Chief Ron Manville of the Dearborn Fire Department, and Chief Walt Stubbs of the Camden Fire Department.
Mr. McDaniel prayed that God would give Mr. Brown’s family peace during this difficult time.
"Travis is alive in the sky with our Lord," Mr. McDaniel said
After the service, the casket was brought to the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, Weston, on a Dearborn Fire Department truck with black sheets covering the sides, and was escorted by members of department.
A bell rang several times during moments of silence to honor Mr. Brown at the burial site, and tears streamed down the faces of his wife, children, family and friends who heard a fire dispatcher announce through the fire truck’s dispatch radio a call in memory of Mr. Brown.
Several Dearborn Fire Department members said Mr. Brown was a good man, and it was going to be a difficult time for the community. The firefighters were given condolences by many of the firefighters and others who came from the surrounding area. Also in attendance was Perry McAully, who was the driver of the tanker truck Mr. Brown was in when the accident occurred. Mr. McAully also was injured in the accident.
Mr. Brown had been a member of the Dearborn Fire Department for almost three years, and was a licensed and certified practical nurse.
Related:
