If I am ever called to leave you, unexpectedly, please take from me these parting thoughts to frame my legacy. When you remember me tomorrow, I pray you'll recall A happy soul who loved his family-loved his work as well. Please recollect a man who loved the chance to lend a hand, to save a life or property from some untimely end. Someone who heard the public call to safeguard streets and homes- deliver breath to silent lungs, to quench the hostile flames. But when you ponder how I came to make my final stand, don't make me more than what I was-
a kind, compassionate man. Don't make me more in death than I, in life, have ever been-
Remember, simply, one who served his God and fellow men.