June 02 -- A year and a half after retiring from the Hopewell Fire Department, Capt. Clyde Jeffrey "Jeff" Berry was driving down a familiar road when he began to have a heart attack. He pulled over across the street from the fire station he had served in for 28 years.
Men he had trained to rush to the aid of strangers tried to resuscitate him but could not.
A week after Berry's death, his son Clyde Jeffrey Berry Jr., whom the father stood by during his battle with cancer, was declared in remission.
Berry and nine others were remembered Saturday afternoon during the Virginia Department of Fire Programs' 16th annual Virginia Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service at the Richmond International Raceway complex.
The ceremony honors Virginia firefighters who died recently responding to emergencies, or from illnesses declared related to their work. The event officially kicked off Virginia's first Fire and EMS Memorial Week from June 2 to 8.
As officials handed Virginia flags flown atop the state Capitol to the families of fallen firefighters, a haunting silence lingered.
"We do (the Memorial Week) so that communities and residents could have the chance to reflect on lives and legacies lost for their neighbors," said Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Marla Graff Decker.
Joshua Culler of the Disputanta Volunteer Fire Department was known as a fighter; not only against blazes, but against the chronic lymphocytic leukemia he was diagnosed with in 2009.
"Fear was not an option for Josh," said his widow, Misti Culler. He was proud and independent like many firefighters, Culler said, and was reluctant to accept help as he got weaker. So she frequently reminded him she married him "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health."
Berry also was known as a guy with a tough shell who wasn't afraid to correct people on the job when needed. But when he talked about his children, even when they were grown, "he was as soft as jelly on the inside," Capt. Jerry F. Hays Jr. said during Berry's eulogy.
"I, as his baby girl, could get his soft side out," said Berry's daughter Christina Berry.
Five of the men died while responding to emergencies. The other five died from illnesses or conditions deemed related to their job. All the deaths were considered in the line of duty.
In addition to Berry and Culler, those honored were Medic II Joshua Weissman of the Alexandria Fire Department; Firefighter Zachary Whitacre of Gore Volunteer Fire & Rescue; Firefighter Jonathan Myers of Norfolk Fire-Rescue; Lt. John Echternach of the Boones Mill Volunteer Fire Department; Lt. David Chew of the Bloxom Volunteer Fire Department; Chief M.L. "Pug" Wells of the Elliston Volunteer Fire Department; Technician Mark Baban of the Fairfax County Fire Department; and District Chief Eldridge Canaday of the James City County Fire Department.
The U.S. Fire Administration reported 83 on-duty firefighter fatalities because of emergencies in 2012 across the country.
The memorial service has honored 53 Virginians in its 16 years.
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Copyright 2013 - Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
