Eileen Edelin & Carson Widdoes work with Historical Society photographs.
On December 8, 2013, people will pause and reflect on a 1963 tragedy that sadly affected so many individuals when Flight 214 crashed at the edge of Elkton. On that horrific night 81 people on the big Pan American World Airways jet perished, first responders rushed to try to help, and the larger community mobilized, supporting the massive recovery operation for Maryland’s worst aviation disaster.
It was a time of shock and sadness as, in an instant, families were shattered and lives were altered in an untold number of ways that Sunday evening. In the Elkton and Newark areas lots of residents peering out at the unusual thunderstorm watched with horror as lightning struck the low-flying aircraft, causing it to explode in mid-flight. In homes across the county, emergency radios crackled urgently to life, breaking the Sunday evening silence, with the most urgent of alerts. Firefighters, police officers, military personnel and rescue workers rushing toward a cornfield to try to help confronted an unsettling scene.
On Dec 8, 2013, the public is invited to gather for an occasion of remembrance in an event sponsored by the Historical Society of Cecil County and the Singerly Fire Company. The main program takes place at 2:00 p.m. at the fire station on Newark Avenue in Elkton. This is something that will stay with friends and families of victims forever and is seared into the collective memory of the community. So we are taking time to pause, reflect, and remember those who lost their lives and those who answered the call to help, according to Don Hicks and Paula Newton, the presidents of the two sponsoring groups.
“In a split-second the lives of emergency workers changed that night as they rushed toward the unnerving accident, a disaster of unprecedented size and scope for a rural volunteer fire department in the early 1960s. But working the front line of the grim crash scene, they did what they had to. And the memories of those days never faded for a generation of young firefighters,” President Hicks of the fire company noted. “In addition, residents in the area will never forget where they were or what they were doing when Maryland’s largest aviation disaster occurred,” the Historical Society’s Newton added. “It was one of those defining moments in the community’s history and as Cecil’s heritage keepers we will observe this passage and honor the memories by recording the events of that sad day.”
As the two groups mark passage of decades by pausing and reflecting during a public program, the hosts have one additional objective, the creation of a Remembrance Archive that chronicles memories of the accident. To record whatever personal and professional stories people wants to share the sponsors are opening up the “Flight 214 Listening Station” on Saturday, Dec. 7th, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. During half-hour appointments, people are invited to privately share firsthand accounts of the tragedy.
Oral historians will be at recording booths, listening, asking a few questions, and recording the conversation, but mostly listening. These stories — whatever individuals want to share — will be added to a permanent collection. The recordings will help assure that generational memory of the event and its impact on families, public safety agencies, the public and the community doesn’t disappear as time moves on.
Those wishing to document their own experience may do so at the recording stations. For an appointment email remembrance@cecilhistory.org. In addition, the fire company is compiling a list of its first responders and through the fire company museum is sitting with that generation of emergency workers to capture their experiences.
Singerly Fire Company members work with research materials at the Historical Society. Around Table from L to R — Carl Edelin, Past President, Maryland State Firemen’s Association; Bob McKinney & Eileen Edelin, Singerly Fire Co. Museum; Carson Widdoes, Singerly Director;
On a terrible December night fifty years ago Pan-American World Airways Flight 214 exploded in the dark Cecil County sky. On that unsettling cold, rainy Sunday, as lightning periodically illuminated Elkton, eighty-one people perished when the big plane broke apart in flight and debris rained down on a cornfield at the edge of the county seat. Hours later, while Chief Edgar Slaughter steadily coordinated the tri-state response to Maryland’s largest loss of life accident and rescuers combed the wreckage, a first responder, Steward W. Godwin of the North East Volunteer Fire Company, suddenly collapsed and died.
Sunday, Dec 8th, 2013, the Historical Society of Cecil County and the Singerly Fire Company will host the “Flight 214 Remembrance Program,” honoring the memory of those on the flight and the emergency personnel who answered the call that stormy night. The program takes place at the firehouse at 300 Newark Avenue in Elkton at 2 p.m. and is open to the public.
Retired school superintendent Henry Shaffer will moderate the program. Henry, a 16-year-old rookie firefighter in 1963, was on the first fire engine to reach the disaster site. Following greetings from Don Hicks, the fire company president, and Paula Newton, the Historical Society president, there will be a number of speakers. The afternoon includes the sharing of memories, reflections of loved ones, the Singerly story, and remembering a fallen comrade. There will be outtakes from the Society’s oral history collection and displays of material from the history group’s library, such as newspapers, the emergency radio communication tape, photographs, and television and radio news broadcasts.
For well over a year, as part of the Society’s mission to chronicle the past, volunteers have been busy creating a remembrance archive. A major part of this involves interviewing witnesses, residents of the area, and family members and it also involves collecting research materials. The group has already done a lot of work and has found that with the greatest clarity, this searing incident is clearly imprinted on a generation of Cecil County residents and first responders.
In continuing with this initiative the event hosts will open up the Flight 214 listening station on Saturday, Dec. 7th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. During half-hour appointments, people will be invited to privately share their stories about the tragedy as oral historians working at recording booths, listen to people, ask a few questions, and record the conversation. If you are interested in an interview email the Society at remembrance@cecilhistory.org.
On this weekend for remembering the fire company will focus on interviewing its members who answered the call that December so long ago, according to President Hicks. “While we pause and reflect on the painful tragedy that altered so many lives and is forever seared into the county’s history, we also want to recall the dedication of the emergency workers who rushed out into the threatening, stormy darkness to try to help.”
Although half a century has passed, “the memories are crystal to clear to those who lived in Elkton in 1963 or had family members on Flight 214,” Paula Newtown, remarked. “Over the years we have heard many personal stories about what people were doing at the time or what they witnessed. We felt it was our obligation as the county’s heritage keepers to preserve these memories so that this day is never forgotten.”
On November 14, 1963, Cecil County hummed with excitement as the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, came to Cecil County to dedicate the Northeastern Expressway. This important public works project shaped the future of this corner of Maryland, and as planning for the massive highway got underway local economic development experts talked excitedly about the opportunities presented by I-95.
It would yield major dividends by spurring business growth, as commercial, industrial and residential development clustered near the interchanges, they anticipated. By 1962, big earth moving machines scooped up earth, cutting a 300-foot wide path through heavily wooded, uncultivated areas, as workers rushed to build the highway across the top of the Chesapeake.
Exactly on the 50th anniversary of this significant milestone, one that changed the area’s landscape, the Historical Society of Cecil County was asked to examine that unforgettable period for community business leaders at the monthly meeting of the Cecil County Chamber of Commerce. Drawing on a large collection of resources, including photographs, newspaper accounts, governmental documents, oral histories, and economic development reports from a half-century ago, the Society discussed how what became the John F. Kennedy Highway shaped the growth and development of the area.
Cartographer Sean Moir to speak at Society on Dec. 7th.
The Historical Society of Cecil County’s Winter Speakers Series continues on Dec 7, 2013, with a talk by Sean Moir. The speaker applies modern research methods to an old topic, the Philadelphia Campaign in the Revolutionary War and he approaches his subject from the perspective of a cartographer. Using historical temporal GIS mapping, Sean animates the story of the enemy invasion and the route through Cecil County.
As a professional mapmaker, he has worked with archaeologists to investigate the movements and engagements of General Howe during the campaign to capture Philadelphia and created evidence based interpretations. Detailed, computer-generated maps show how the troops moved, where they camped, and the engagement they were caught up in, during the first weeks of the famous Philadelphia campaign. This scholarly, fact based approach to inquiry into earlier times has resulted in a modern-age, animated map that allows the audience to closely follow along with events in 1777.
During the presentation, he will outline how on August 25, 1777, a fleet of 260 ships landed in the vicinity of Cecil Courthouse and Cecil Ferry on the Elk River. The army was low on supplies so General William Howe sent a division under General Wilhelm von Knyphausen into southern New Castle County to forage for supplies. That route brought the division ashore at the courthouse south of Chesapeake City and had units lodge near St. Augustine Church in Cecil County as the companies prepared to explore the territory north of present day Middletown. General Howe took the main British Army to Elkton or Head of Elk to rest and prepare for the advance toward Philadelphia.
On Sept. 3rd, the enemy army of 15,000 men broke camp and headed toward Aiken’s Tavern (today’s Glasgow). There advance units encountered a detachment of continental troops, Maxwell’s Light Infantry. As fighting continued, combatants fell back toward Cooch’s Bridge and Iron Hill, where the bulk of the action took place. Eventually Washington’s army was pushed back toward Wilmington and in time the fighting moved into Pennsylvania as Howe continued to advance on his objective, Philadelphia.
The free event takes place on Saturday, Dec. 7th at 2 p.m. the Society’s library at 135 E. Main Street in Elkton. Look for additional topics on the first Saturday of each month during the cooler weather months.
Major Andre’s journal showing placement of British military units on Aug. 26, 1777 at Elk Ferry opposite Cecil Courthouse (Courthouse Point, south of Chesapeake City) Source: Library of Congress.
Captain David R. Barr, Jr. was laid to rest last Saturday. Photo: Eileen Edelin
Firefighters respond to dozens of emergencies every day in Cecil County, rushing into burning buildings, extracting people trapped in automobiles, and providing pre-hospital medical care. Mostly these calls are routine for the emergency responders. But on what seems to be the most ordinary of runs these dedicated men and women face great danger while ensuring the safety of the community and sometimes these public servants give everything, falling in the line of duty. The Service was reminded of this last Saturday as Captain David R. Barr was laid to rest.
Three Cecil County Firefighters have fallen in the line of duty while working incidents and it is important we make sure their ultimate sacrifice is never forgotten. Perhaps someday there can be a Cecil County memorial, a place to carve their names in granite as a permanent memorial to honor the memory of these heroes who gave everything protecting the community.
Captain David R. Barr, Jr., 64, a veteran Cecil County Firefighter, lost his life in the line of duty while on a call with the Community Fire Company of Perryville. The Captain was on-the-job at an accident on Route 40 in Perryville on October 25, 2013, when he was struck by an automobile. He succumbed to his injuries on November 7, 2013. The career firefighter devoted his life to the fire service and to serving the citizens of Cecil County. Whenever there was an emergency or something needed to be done in the firehouse, he was one of the first to volunteer and was often tapped to lead important functions. He joined the Water Witch Fire Company of Port Deposit when he was 16 years old in 1966. Professionally he worked as a federal firefighter, serving 34 years at the Perry Point Veterans Hospital, retiring from government service with the rank of Lieutenant. In 2000 he joined the Community Fire Company of Perryville and was serving there as a Captain when he answered the final call.
Steward W. Godwin responded to the Elkton plane crash on the North East Ambulance
Steward W. Godwin,56 —On December 8, 1963, as lightning periodically illuminated the cold rainy night, five airliners flew in a holding pattern above Cecil County, awaiting clearance to land in Philadelphia. Just before 9 p.m. Pam American Airways Flight 214, carrying 81 passengers and crew was struck by lightning and exploded. A general alarm was sounded for all available ambulances. From the North East Fire Company, a unit rushed toward the cornfield just east of Elkton. On that dark stormy Sunday night, as fire company search lights illuminated the field, emergency responders searched the scene, looking for survivors. About 1:30 a.m. Steward W. Godwin, 56, of North East suddenly collapsed into the arms of Andrew Scarborough, another North East member, the News Journal reported. He passed away at Union Hospital, the death being attributed to a heart attack. He had been a member of the fire company for 18 months, according to the newspaper.
Richard L. Loller, 37 –On May 18, 1956, the Chesapeake City Fire Company responded to an urgent call to assist Galena with a fire at the Kent Oil Company. While battling the dangerous blaze, several explosions rocked the tank farm, the final one coming about 8:30 that Friday morning. That last death-dealing explosion of a 6,000-gallon tank filled with gasoline sent part of the huge vessel soaring through the air. Flying debris killed two firefighters and the extreme heat from the flash burned a dozen or more people close to the scene. Richard L. Loller, 37, of Chesapeake City and Robert Harry Brice, 24, of Betterton were killed after being hit by limbs falling from a tree.
Chesapeake City Fireman Killed in Galena Oil Tank Explosions, FireCaptain Barr was laid to rest with full fire department honors. Photo Credit: Eileen Edelin
President Kennedy Assassinated — On November 22, 1963, people living in Cecil County were stunned as they heard the seemingly implausible news bulletin that an assassin’s bullet had struck down President John F. Kennedy. Just eight days earlier, many residents watched as the energetic leader came to the county to dedicate the Northeastern Expressway. After landing in a helicopter, they witnessed “the vibrant, young, energetic executive” cut the ribbon opening the Interstate and unveiling a Mason-Dixon Line Marker.
President Kennedy Dedicates the Northeastern Expressway, I-95, Source: New York Times, Nov. 15, 1963
During this brief 62-minute stay, some recalled that he moved close to the crowd to shake hands. Then before lifting off, he paused at the door of the craft and, with that familiar smile and a wave of the hand, said goodbye to the friendly crowd of over 5,000 before disappearing inside. While the copter faded into the eastern horizon, the area was “bathed in a dramatic sunset as people headed back to their cars on that chilly afternoon as he headed to public events in New York.
As traffic started zipping along the superhighway, without one traffic light halting the fast trip, the Cecil Democrat proudly noted that this was not his first visit to Cecil. But it had been the first since he was elected to the nation’s highest office. “When we consider the thousands of counties in the United States, we realize what an honor it” was for the “President to come to the county where we live,” the newspaper proudly wrote.
There was such optimism in the county as the late November morning of the 22nd dawned on the Chesapeake Bay. At 8:00 a.m. that Friday, Patrolman Jerry Secor signed on duty, noting in the police blotter that a fog blanketed the town. On his watch, things were subdued, the officer responding to two unremarkable calls, which he duly chronicled in the official record book, a source that provides a cops-eye view of activities. The policeman also escorted a DuBose Funeral Home detail, arrested a man for shoplifting, and recovered a stolen car.
The Elkton Police Blotter. At the start of the day watch as Officer Secor reports for duty on Nov. 22. 1963 – Source: Historical Society of Cecil County
President Kennedy Assassinated
But abruptly that afternoon, everything changed in the town and the nation. Officer Secor, in a careful hand, dutifully penned an entry in the official Police Blotter: “1:30 p.m. “President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas Texas.”
For the remainder of that heartbreaking day, there is something about the unsettling quiet reflected in the complaint log as a deep dark sadness penetrates the community, and no calls come in for the remainder of the afternoon and the overnight hours. Law-breaking had come to a standstill as everyone — late-night regulars at noisy bars, teen troublemakers, and other wayward types — stayed glued to television sets, trying to comprehend the terrible event in Texas.
“President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas,” Elkton Police Blotter, Nov. 22, 1963; source – Historical Society of Cecil County.
Two operators worked the Armstrong Phone Company Switchboard in Rising Sun. Periodically lights on the board flickered on, indicating someone had picked up one of the old hand crank telephones to make a call so the operators would answer “number please.”
The call volume was routine as they juggled cords and plugs on the last day of the work week as the lunch hour rolled around. But in a flash, the entire board lit up, alarming the operators. Something similar happened when one of the women activated the fire siren for people would call to see where the fire was.
But this time it was different for everyone on the network, it seemed, picked up receivers at exactly the same time. Answering as many calls as they could, they heard upset people saying did you hear the news, the president has been shot or connect me with so and so as callers reached out to talk to someone about the unfolding tragedy. Sometime after the newscasters announced the president had died, an eerie silence settled over the telephone network as people headed home to be with family at this sad time and to monitor the newscasts.
WSER’S News Flash – President Kennedy Assassinated
Since it was the middle of the workday, many people first received news from the radio. At Elkton’s top 40 AM Station, WSER, the mid-day disc jockey worked the turntable playing the hits of ’63 when a network flash interrupted his entertaining mid-day routine. Once the first flash got everyone’s attention, listeners huddled near receivers at home, work, and in cars to hear the latest. As the hours unfolded, the network kept up a steady stream of bulletins and flashes.
Les Coleman helped open Cecil’s first station but worked as a sales representative at WDOV in Dover that day. When he checked with the Dover station, they told him they would pull all commercial programming. His job that afternoon was to call advertisers and let them know that the station was holding all commercials until after the funeral, Les recalled in a conversation a few years ago.
At Stanley’s Newsstand, the morning papers had all been sold, so it was time to get ready for the afternoon arrivals from Wilmington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. However, the daily routine was disrupted too, as people sought whatever news they could get. Phil Stanley worked for his father in the family business, and he recalled that the Baltimore News American issued a special. As darkness closed in on Cecil County, the teenager stood outside the A&P and movie theater on North Street, hawking newspapers.
As daylight faded, those papers were soon all gone. A late edition with racing results. the last one, printed each day, came in on the Pennsylvania Railroad. So Phil rushed over to the station to grab those bundles. Arriving in Elkton that dark, sad Friday night, readers quickly snapped up the broadsheets.
In the schools, the children were generally informed about the tragedy shortly before dismissal. Of course, the kids were all talking about it, trying to comprehend the meaning of the tragedy. Throughout the county, it was particularly quiet as that unusually dark, unsettling night got underway, perhaps not unlike the evening of 9/11, as people rushed home to learn more details of the tragedy in Dallas from broadcasters and be with family.
Activities in Cecil County Come to a Halt
Activities throughout the county quickly halted as bewilderment and disbelief paralyzed Cecil and the nation. As people dealt with the deep sadness they felt, the Bainbridge Naval Training Center sounded a single gun salute every half hour from sunup to sunset until the final tribute of a 23-gun salute rang out at the time of the funeral.
In Chesapeake City, a couple living along the canal said they’d never forget the day. Just before the news broke from Dallas, two federal men in dark suits knocked on their door. Representing the Army Corps of Engineers, they were there to discuss the purchase of their property in Bethel as the canal was being expanded.
Back in the county seat, H. Wirt Bouchelle, the county’s weatherman, dutifully recorded Friday’s meteorological conditions, confirming the observations of the police as they started the 8:00 a.m. shift. The temperature climbed to an unseasonably high of 63 degrees F. while sinking back to 40 overnight. There was no precipitation that gloomy day in Cecil County.
For three consecutive weeks, pictures of President John F. Kennedy had headlined the front page of the Cecil Whig in November 1963. “Never before in the 123-year history” of the newspaper had such a sequence occurred, the editor wrote. In the first editions, the weekly announced the forthcoming appearance of the chief executive at ceremonies for the new road, an announcement that was “greeted by many with a feeling of great anticipation.” The second article gave an account of the Presidential visit and told of the crowd’s reaction and feelings about being there to “greet him so warmly.” The third and final article expressed, as best the editors knew how, the “shock and deep feeling of grief at the untimely death of our President,” an editorial stated.
Cecil County Mourns
Cecil County joined the rest of the nation in expressing shock and sadness as people quickly returned home and gathered their families close while watching the television for more news. Many who had been so excited about seeing him eight days earlier called the unsettling loss “incredible” and “unbelievable,” the Cecil Whig remarked.
Many still recall the deep gloom that settled over the county on that day a half-century ago.
Cecil County Mourns — President Kennedy Assassinated, Source: Cecil Whig, Nov. 27, 1963
Brochure distributed by the Northeastern Expressway on the day President Kennedy dedicated the highway.
KENNEDY HIGHWAY — NOV. 14, 1963 — Thursday, Nov. 14, 1963, was a day like no other in the County’s history, as an important public works project that would help shape Cecil’s future became a reality.
There on the Mason-Dixon Line stood President John F. Kennedy, flanked by the governors of Maryland and Delaware, Millard Tawes and Frank Carvel. The president visited the historic line to dedicate the $104-million Northeastern Expressway (I-95) and the Delaware Turnpike, major additions to the Interstate Highway system.
“Tanned and almost as boyish looking as he was when (he campaigned in Cecil County for the nation’s highest office in 1960), Mr. Kennedy spoke for exactly four minutes,” the Baltimore Sun reported. This highway “symbolizes the partnership between the federal government and the states, which is essential to the progress of our people.” Once the speakers finished, he and the governors sniped a symbolic ribbon and unveiled a replica of the Mason Dixon Marker.
President Kennedy Off to Wilmington Airport
Before lifting off in a helicopter, he paused at the craft’s door to wave to the friendly crowd of over 5,000 before disappearing inside. While the copter faded into the eastern horizon, the area was “bathed in a dramatic sunset as people headed back to their cars” on a chilly Thursday afternoon, the Morning News reported. The chopper’s flight took him to the Wilmington Airport, where he climbed aboard a DC 8 for a trip to New York. The 35th president’s 62 minutes visit to the region was over.
As traffic started zipping along the superhighway, without one light halting the fast trip, people realized that the dream of many years was a reality. For years plans had been underway to provide a second thoroughfare to absorb the increased volume on Pulaski Highway (Route 40). Economic development experts talked excitedly about the opportunities presented by I-95. It would yield major dividends by spurring business growth as commercial, industrial and residential development clustered near the interchanges, they noted.
Many motorists were relieved to be “on the clear new road,” one letter to the editor noted in the Sun. The interstate was “free of the old forest of garish signs and lights, the sudden stops, the unpredictable entrances and exits, the jumble of bars and hamburger joints, and souvenir stands and motels, all competing with each other and the traffic for the driver’s attention. On a rainy night or in heavy traffic, Route 40 was a nightmare, and it didn’t get that way by itself,” the writer observed. Urging careful, ongoing planning for the expressway, he warned, “If you don’t kill the traveler who lays the golden eggs, you can still drive him away.”
Route 40
On Route 40, which ran parallel to the new interstate and had served as the main route for motorists along the northeast corridor, service stations, motels, and restaurants were “singing the blues,” reporting that business was off nearly half the weekend after the opening, the Sun reported. “Our best days are gone,” one filling station owner remarked. “William Kennedy, the owner of a service station in North East, said he pumped 250 gallons of gas a day after Nov. 14,” while he had averaged about 700 gallons daily.
When trucks and cars started rolling at midnight, 10 hours later, the cost of a trip over the 42-mile Maryland section was $1 and it was 30 cents for the 11-mile Delaware trip. It was a four-lane highway, two lanes north and two lanes south, and in 1974 the roadway was widened to three lanes in each direction. In 1991, it was expanded to four lanes in each direction.
There was such optimism in the county. But eight days later, on Nov. 22, 1963, things changed when the 35th president was brought down by an assassin’s bullet. Five months later, the highway was renamed in honor of the slain president, as the ceremony was the last public works project he dedicated before his fateful trip to Dallas.
Throughout his life, Cecil County’s popular photojournalist, Jim Cheeseman, talked about the day the Whig’s editors assigned him to capture the visit on film. He and others in the press corps waited near the helicopter landing strip for about 45 minutes before the president arrived.
On that afternoon, “the vibrant, young, energetic executive” stepped from the helicopter and Jim permanently recorded the visit for the county’s newspaper of record. “The most outstanding thing I remember was when the helicopter landed. It was just a feeling, seeing the president step out. I was very impressed with him … You could see he was active and young,” Jim once recalled in an interview with the Whig. As the president and the governors snipped the ribbon, the three men smiled in front of the photographer’s camera.
“I didn’t hear much of the speech because I was frantically trying to reserve a good spot to get a snapshot of the president for the ceremony,” Cheeseman recalled.
Fifty years after this important milestone in county history, many people still remember seeing and hearing the president on this visit to the County.
President Kennedy and the governors of Delaware and Maryland prepare to cut the ribbon.
Veteran Firefighter David Barr was laid to rest with full fire department honors. Photo credit: Eileen Edelin.
November, 16, 2013, Perryville, MD. — On this sad day Cecil County emergency responders mourned the loss of one of their own, as David R. Barr, Jr. was laid to rest. Answering an alarm with the Community Fire Company of Perryville on October 25th Captain Barr was directing traffic around a crash scene on Route 40 near the Susquehanna River Bridge when he was struck by an automobile.
The veteran firefighter was rushed to Christiana Hospital in Wilmington where he passed away eight days later on Thursday, November 7. That Thursday afternoon a line of fire engines, ambulances, and rescue vehicles honored the memory of the Cecil County hero who laid down his life serving the public. In a heartfelt tribute, units from all over the county escorted the Patterson Funeral Home hearse returning the body of the Captain home as the service sadly prepared to say a final goodbye to one of their own. Police Officers stopped traffic along the route.
Hundreds of people attended the viewing Friday, November 15th, honoring the memory of the dedicated public servant and paying respects to the family. Firefighters flanked the casket, standing watch and changing guard with military precision and slow salutes to their fallen brother, as family, friends, and emergency services personnel crowded into Station 6.
Saturday the first responder who made the ultimate sacrifice was laid to rest at the West Nottingham Presbyterian Cemetery with full fire department honors. Over 600 friends, relatives, and colleagues attended as emergency workers from as far away Chincoteague Virginia said goodbye to a fallen brother.
To the mournful strains of bagpipes the flag-covered casket was lifted onto a fire engine for the trip to the cemetery. At 12:57 p.m. a dispatcher’s voice crackled over the emergency radio network, but the transmission was unanswered. After a few moments of silence the dispatch went out, Captain Barr had answered his last alarm and as the signal faded a siren broke the silence.
David dedicated his life to the fire service and to serving the citizens of Cecil County. Whenever there was an emergency or something needed to be done in the firehouse, he was one of the first to volunteer and was often tapped to lead important functions. In 1966, at the age of 16, he joined the Water Witch Fire Company of Port Deposit, where he served in many capacities. Professionally he worked as a federal fire fighter, serving 34 years at the Perry Point Veterans Hospital. When he retired from government service he had worked his way through the, ranks, serving as a watch commander holding the rank of Lieutenant. In 2000 he joined the Community Fire Company of Perryville and was serving there as a Captain when he answered the final call.
The Captain, who will be remembered as a man who loved his work, the fire service, and the community, is the third Cecil County firefighter to die in the line of duty. Steward W. Godwin, 56, of the North East Volunteer Fire Company collapsed and died at the scene of an airplane crash in Elkton on Dec. 7, 1963. Richard Loller, 37, of the Volunteer Fire Company of Chesapeake City died on May 18, 1956 at a fire call at an oil company in Galena.
Honor a Cecil County Hero David Barr.
The Community Fire Company of Perryville pays respects to Captain Barr. Photo Credits: Eileen Edelin.
It was a sad day in Cecil County as first responders from all over Maryland and the region came to Station 6 in Perryville to pay respects to Captain David R Barr, Jr., 64, a veteran Cecil County firefighter who lost his life in the line of duty.
The career firefighter devoted himself to the fire service and to serving the citizens of Cecil County. Whenever there was an emergency or something needed to be done at the firehouse, he was one of the first to volunteer and was often tapped to lead important functions. He joined the Water Witch Fire Company of Port Deposit as a teenager, where he served in many capacities. Professionally he worked as a federal fire fighter, serving 34 years at the Perry Point Veterans Hospital, retiring from government service with the rank of Lieutenant. In 2000 he joined the Community Fire Company of Perryville, serving there as a Captain when he answered the final call.
On his final alarm on October 25, 2013, he was on-the-job at an accident on Route 40 in Perryville when he was struck by an automobile. He succumbed to his injuries on Nov. 7, 2013.
This afternoon firefighters flanked the casket, standing watch and changing guard with military precision and slow salutes to their fallen brother, as family, friends, and emergency services personnel crowded into the Minker Banquet Hall to honor the memory of Captain Barr.
The public servant, who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the citizens of Cecil County will be laid to rest Saturday.
End of Watch: Captain Dave. R. Barr, Jr.
The Community Fire Company of Perryville says goodbye to Captain David R. Barr, who lost his life in the line of duty.
Members rush out of the meeting hall to greet the returning Civil War chaplain.
This wasn’t a lecture in history. The Methodist Minister got the audience involved in the program. Mrs. Powell and Mrs. Wiser are preparing to join in on an old Methodist Hymn.
Historical Society Trustee Eric Mease provides a brief overview for the program.
Eric Mease and William Graham go outside to get ready for the arrival of Joseph Brown.
Rev. Brown greets George Reynolds, an earlier recipient of the Ernest Howard Award.
Riley & William Graham are on the look out for the Rev.
Lucia G. Demond, the 2013 recipient of the Ernest Howard Award.
On November 14, 1963, Cecil County hummed with excitement as the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, came to Cecil County to dedicate the Northeastern Expressway. This important public works project shaped the future of this corner of Maryland, and as planning for the massive highway got underway local economic development experts talked excitedly about the opportunities presented by I-95.
