Honoring the brave: Firefighters remember deceased comrades at memorial ceremony

Firefighters stand in the doorway Saturday afternoon at Dixon High School’s Lancaster Gymnasium for the Blackhawk Firefighters Association’s second firefighter memorial ceremony. (Philip Marruffo - SVN)

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DIXON – Saturday marked a little more than a year since Blackhawk Firefighters Association hosted its first memorial ceremony.

The association represents more than 80 fire departments throughout Illinois, including departments in Rock Falls, Dixon and Amboy. Its memorial honored local firefighters who have died.

In the 12 months since that inaugural ceremony, 20 more firefighters – 20 sons, brothers, husbands and fathers – have lost their lives.

On the day before Mother’s Day, their families sat in a high school gym, listened to a bell toll, and accepted gestures of appreciation – flowers and a plaque – from their loved ones’ peers.

“All I have to do is say they gave the ultimate sacrifice,” said Jay Reardon, a retired Northbrook fire chief who spoke at the ceremony. “Sometimes giving brings joy, but oftentimes it brings pain. It was a reflection of giving in the most painful way.”

Lisa McAuliffe lost her father, retired Milledgeville Chief Stanley Frederick, just before Thanksgiving.

“He’ll be 75 in ... he was 74 when he died,” McAuliffe said. “We think it was a heart attack.”

McAuliffe rode to Veterans Memorial Park after the ceremony with her sister, whom she gave the memorial plaque to, “since she was the oldest.”

Her three small children, her husband, and hundreds of balloons awaited her at the park. There, Reardon told families to release their balloons “up to God, where your loved ones are.”

“I thought it was beautiful,” McAuliffe said. “I thought it was a fabulous thing to do. It was a major tearjerker.”

Honoring the fallen

Blackhawk Firefighters Association honored 20 members who have died in the past year:

■ Firefighter Mike
McKean, Ashton

■ Chief Russell J.
Maynard, Rock Falls

■ Firefighter John W. Bohms, Rock Falls

■ Firefighter Hamilton Scott, Rock Falls

■ Firefighter Kenneth Johnson, Lyndon

■ Firefighter Eugene Wollesen, Lyndon

■ Firefighter Tony Silva, Prophetstown

■ Capt. Eugene Freil, Dixon

■ Lt. Robert Freed, Dixon

■ Firefighter Donald Edward Seger, Erie

■ Firefighter/Secretary Bud Possley, Erie

■ Firefighter John A. Liggett, Amboy

■ Trustee Jack Carlson, Amboy

■ Chief Kirby S.
MacKinnon, Amboy

■ Firefighter Clyde Veith, Amboy

■ Firefighter David Seloover, Amboy

■ Firefighter Ervin Haws, Amboy

■ Dispatcher Charles “Charlie” Stevens,
Shannon

■ Firefighter Dale
Whitehead, Forreston

■ Chief Stanley
Frederick, Milledgeville