Jan. 24--Clarence Cash Jr. had no boyhood dreams of becoming a fireman.
Cash joined the Shelby County Fire Department fully intending to eventually pursue a career in the medical field.
But after 40 years, Cash will retire as the department's chief, leaving on Jan. 28, the first anniversary of his mother's death.
"I picked that day because she was very instrumental in the success in my life," he said.
Cash, 63, joined the department in 1973 as it was moving from all-volunteer to include paid firefighters.
"This valuable opportunity came and so I said, 'Well, it's employment,' and I thought it would be something I would probably just go in and stay with it for a little while," Cash said.
He graduated from Mt. Pisgah High School in 1967 and enrolled in the old Owen College. But when his father died, Cash left college to help pay for his sister's education.
He was ready to return when the U.S. Army came calling. He lost his deferment and spent 14 months in Vietnam.
Afterward, Cash enrolled in what is now the University of Memphis, but admits he wasn't totally focused. So he joined the fire department.
"I didn't know I would be drawn in, to love this profession," Cash said. "Helping people was one of the things that really motivated me into trying to do better and make it better."
By 1980, he said, all the department's firefighters were professional.
"I realized that there were a lot more opportunities than my little tunnel-vision mind had right at that point and time, and I saw a lot of things we were lacking as a department," Cash said.
The mostly rural fire department once only responded to fires. Firefighters bought their own uniforms and there was little training. Today Cash's "top-notch, professional department" responds to natural disasters, hazardous materials events and medical emergencies.
"I would put our guys up against anybody,"Cash said.
Cash was named chief in 2004 and was retained by county Mayor Mark Luttrell when he was elected in 2010.
"He's a good man," Luttrell said. "He's got leadership skills and he has done a great job in really transitioning the fire department from a rural fire department to a more urbanized fire department. And to his credit he's remained very fresh as far as maintaining high standards."
Luttrell will appoint an acting chief and will take applications for a new chief.
And Cash will rest for a few months before looking for other opportunities.
"If someone, some business, maybe even government thinks they can use some of the knowledge I have, I may consider doing that," he said. "I'm not going to sit dormant."
Copyright 2014 - The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
