My first memory of Fitzhugh was as a young boy. I use to
accompany my father to the mill after
hours when he had business to attend to and we would go through
different parts of the mill.
Fitzhugh use to doff big rolls of cloth or yarn and I was
impressed at the size of his arms. In those days, Fitzhugh
was well built and hard as a rock.
In 1959 or 1960, a Ruritain Club was formed in Startex to
help the community with projects to better the quality of
life. They did such things as help the little league ball
clubs, and other projects. Fitzhugh was a member and very
involved. One of the major projects the Ruritains
undertook was to form a volunteer Fire Department. A board
of directors was appointed to establish the department and my
father was to be the Chief.
Fitzhugh and Glenn Poole were appointed as Assistant Chiefs.
I joined at 17 years of age and Fitzhugh and I became very
close.
The first years of the Fire Department were very hard.
We operated on the monies the people donated every year.
This was never enough so we sold everything from hot dogs,
brooms, fruit cakes, chicken suppers, hash, anything we thought
would sell. The wives would have cake walks to help with
the cost. Fitzhugh went about this as he did anything he
undertook, full speed ahead. He would go through the mill
selling suppers, brooms, whatever we were selling.
Fitzhugh Powers never did anything half way. He went at
anything full steam. Our first house fire was like a
Chinese fire drill. Nothing went right. We ran out
of water, so we had to go refill our tank. The hose reel
had a hand crank and Fitzhugh grabbed the crank and started to
rewind the hose. He was cranking so fast, the crank handle
flew out and hit him in the nose causing the blood to
flow. Fitzhugh put the handle back in the reel and
continued cranking not taking time to wipe his bloody
nose. That was how he worked all or nothing.
As time went by, my father retired as chief of the department
and I was appointed as chief. Fitzhugh told me to appoint
a younger assistant chief and he would step down. I told
him that as long as I was chief, he would be my assistant
chief. One of the newer
members recently remarked that Fitzhugh was having
trouble backing the fire truck into the building. My
answer to him was that if Fitzhugh hit the building we would fix
the building because if any one earned the right to drive the
truck, it was Fitzhugh.
On July 19, 2007, Fitzhugh passed from this life and is now
with the Lord and I miss him so much. People say we had a
funeral, but I believe we threw him a going away party.
The Bible says you enter into your rest when you get to heaven,
but I bet if there is anything that the Lord needs doing, my
buddy Fitzhugh is right in the middle doing his part.
|
