| On August 13, 2010 two of our members, Bob Braddock and Joe Cooper, attended the annual installation of officers of the Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad. This was also to be the retirement of their long time chief Dan Stevens. Dan got his start as a member of our department when we were called the Lexington Park Volunteer Fire Department. His father Bob was a long time member who held many officers with the department and Dan got the bug from him and joined up while still in high school. Well the bug stayed with him and when he took a job working in Washington, D.C. he moved to Waldorf, Maryland where he joined up with their department to continue his fire service career. I don't know the entire story of Dan but he paid his dues and worked his way up in the department until he was elected Fire Chief a position he held for 20 years. This in itself is a remarkable accomplishment but in addition to this he became one of the best instructors of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute out of the University of Maryland in College Park. Dan has trained countless firefighters in the Southern Maryland region all the time running one of the busiest volunteer fire departments in the country. You don't keep getting elected to an office unless your peers feel you are doing a great job and Dan being elected for 20 years well maybe he could teach the politicians out here running today a thing or two.
I remember Dan as a young firefighter in Lexington Park and working his way up to a Lieutenant position until graduating from high school and taking a job with the government in Washington, D. C. at which time he moved to Waldorf to be closer to his job. We old timers used to kid Dan that we taught him all he knows then he took that knowledge up the road. Trust me this guy learned plenty on his own and has made it a point in his life to teach others.
We the members wish Dan all the best in his retirement and I know that he won't be to far away from the department that he loves and has helped to make one of the best in the country. |
