Letter To The Editor: Preserving History

Dear Editor,
Recently, I attended a leadership conference at Spring Hill, TN. Retired Chief Rick Lasky was the event’s speaker, and he spoke on the topic of Pride and Ownership in the Fire Service. His lecture gave me great insight into the future changes that not only our department needed but the entire fire service.
He began his lecture with a comment that all of us have thought or said sometime in our lifetime. He said, “We have always blamed the new generation for being void of integrity, lazy, and incompetent….” He continued with, “…but it is not their fault. It is we as leaders and parents who have failed them.” This is true! We as leaders and parents have neglected to bestow the basic ideology of integrity, honesty and ethics.
As I pondered this information carefully, I began to construct the future direction of our department. As a combination department, the Henderson Fire Department is mainly built on volunteer service and has been at least since 1928. Members have graciously given of their time for almost 100 years. As I peer at the walls of our station, I see no photographs. I do not hear of any past traditions, and there is very little history. We as leaders must preserve and pass this history and out traditions to the next leaders of our department. Why is this so important? History and traditions create pride in our department and in our community. Pride creates ownership. Ownership creates better morale. Morale creates better group cohesion. All these things create an environment for learning and professionalism. We as leaders owe this to our family of men and women who serve, who give of their time when needed by our community.
I am in search of any information on the history of the City of Henderson Fire Department – older pictures of past fire apparatus, past personnel and past stories of those who have served us. If any of your readers have any information concerning our history here at the Henderson City Fire Department, we would enjoy meeting with you in person, or you can send any information to this email listed below.
Thank You for Your Support,
Kevin Roeder – Deputy Chief
Henderson Fire Department / Station #1
505 Sanford Street
Henderson, TN 38340
kroeder@hendersontn.gov