Clallam County Fire District No. 4 memorializes deceased volunteers in Joyce bell-ringing ceremony

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, September 16, 2015

JOYCE — Clallam County Fire District No. 4 remembered more than 140 deceased volunteers in a memorial bell-ringing ceremony in Joyce.

Bagpipers Thomas McCurdy and Nathan Carroll, both of Port Angeles, opened Saturday’s ceremony with traditional bagpipe music.

After Fire Chief Alex Baker read each volunteer name, the bell tolled once. John Kempf of the American Legion tolled the bell.

The ceremony coincided with an open house to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the completion of the Joyce Fire Hall.

The memorial project to compile the list of names took more than three years to accomplish, the fire department said.

Names were gathered from records and notes, some written on scraps of paper placed in folders and filed away for years.

“Often incomplete, these notes sometimes mentioned a volunteer by nickname only,” said Commissioner Sam Nugent.

“It took a great deal of effort to discover the person’s given name and official date of death.”

The volunteers honored in the ceremony included district residents who helped the Joyce Fire District with construction, painting projects, levy committees, fundraising, putting out fires or helping the injured.

Before reading the names, Baker apologized for any missing names or inaccurate listings after explaining the difficulty of achieving such an exhaustive list that reaches back 60 years.

The Joyce Fire Auxiliary organized the memorial and open house.