One of my heroes died this week. I don’t throw the h-word
around freely, but this man qualified. John T. McNeece was a truckie’s truckie,
the best truck officer I ever rode with. I only had the opportunity to ride
with him for a few years, but it was the education of a lifetime.
The memories of one particular fire will never fade. It
was an early morning house fire in March of 1982. The second floor popped while
we were searching a bedroom, trapping us. I learned how to do the head first
ladder slide that morning as John “helped” me out the window. I’ll tell you a
secret boys and girls—it doesn’t take much training for that evolution if you
need it to stay alive. Comes real natural.
Stories about John have and will be told for years to
come. Sitting around the kitchen table in the station or on the back step, they
will be passed along. You can’t leave a better legacy than that.
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