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Pocono News Section
Fallen Fire Police Captain Honored at Memorial Service
Fallen Fire Police Captain Honored at Memorial Service - Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 6:10PM EST
Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010 @ 06:10pm EST
Lock Haven, Clinton County-
First responders from around our region and even out-of-state came together Wednesday to remember a veteran fire police captain killed in the line of duty last week.
Through poems, prayers, and personal memories, a standing-room-only crowd honored the life of 62-year-old Donald Gary Mellott.
Mellott was a fire police captain with the Woolrich Fire Company. An auto repair shop owner and mechanic by trade, he also spent his life serving various other groups.
At the public ceremony, family, friends, and co-workers celebrated the life of a man they will remember as the ultimate volunteer.
Clinton County Emergency Services Director Kevin Fanning said, "Don truly was a visionary- sought what was best for the community, not what was best for any one organization. He saw the big picture and always offered to help."
Mellott was struck by an elderly driver while assisting with traffic control at an accident scene on Friday, February 12th.
Wednesday morning, he was remembered as a kind-hearted man of integrity and faith. Pictures at the service recalled a loving husband, father, and grandfather who valued family above all else.
Fanning noted, "Numerous family picnics, family events, hunting trips, things of that nature. Again, just an all-around good man for the community, good man for his family."
And as a motorcade led his family and close friends to a private service a few miles away, even those who never met him honored Donald Mellot as a brother.
Pennsylvania Fire Commissioner Ed Mann explained, "Unfortunately in our business a lot of times, people don't understand what the brotherhood is all about, until somebody dies in the line of duty. And then we quickly find out what the brotherhood is all about."
Donald Mellott has been described by many as an "unsung hero" of emergency services. We're told he was instrumental in setting up the Woolrich Fire Police, a group that was organized just this past October. | | |
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