After nearly 24-years of service with the Paris Fire Department, Deputy Fire Chief Jerry Horton stepped out of Station 1 for the last time on July 29 and hung up his helmet on a stellar career.
“I still remember my first day, I wasn’t on shift two-hours and we had a call out for a structure fire,” Horton recalled, “I was given a hose, told where to stand and point”
On Monday, the firehouse was flooded with colleagues, friends and many locals who stopped by to say goodbye.
“I’ve thought about retiring for a while, it wasn’t an out of the blue decision,” he said, “but the timing felt right, and I’m looking forward to enjoying life’s next adventures.”
“I hope he enjoys his retirement,” Driver Engineer Connor Wideman said, “it’s been great working with him over the last five years. I’ve learned a lot from DC Horton and can’t thank him enough for all he’s done.”
When asked what the peak and pit of his career was, Horton said he couldn’t narrow that down either way.
“There are rough days with this job. So there really isn’t just one day that I would consider the hardest of my career. There are a few that will never leave me, but that’s the job,” he said.
“As far as the highlights go, there are so many great memories. There are memories that fall into that ‘peak’, which are simply joking around the firehouse with the crew, there are some of the accomplishments from the job. I really can’t pick just one,” he said with a laugh and smile.
“After today, he won’t have to ever set the alarm clock to get up again,” giggled Debbie Rumph, Horton’s partner.
Rumph also just retired from L3 in Greenville, and after 34-years herself, she and Horton both agree it’s time to go enjoy life and the adventures they can have.
“It’s great to see so many people come by today to say goodbye,” she added.
And as the clock ticked over, the boys at Paris Fire Department said their goodbyes in their own way, one that is just for the fire family, and watched as one more of their own hung his tag on the door as he clocked off one more time.
“He’ll be a hard man to replace,” Deputy Fire Chief Bob Rast said, “We all just hope he enjoys his well-earned retirement.”
