French had big impact on growing fire department

By Jay Ermis
Managing Editor

April 12, 2008 12:26 am

— Joe French left Huntsville 12 years ago when he retired as fire chief of the volunteer fire department.
The Huntsville native may have moved to Lexington and Lee County, but he was not forgotten in the city where he graduated from high school, served on the Huntsville Police Department and made a huge impact on a growing fire department.
In 1978, he became the 18th fire chief to lead the volunteer department since it was organized in 1926. He served in that role for 18 years until retiring in 1996.
French, 59, who continued to serve as a police officer and firefighter in Lexington, died Wednesday morning in a Bryan hospital.
Monday afternoon in Huntsville, members of the HFD, firefighters from volunteer departments countywide and law enforcement officers will pay tribute and their respects to the man known for his stature and big heart.
They will be joined by firefighters from throughout the state, including those who served under French as volunteers while attending Sam Houston State University.
French’s son, John, is a member of the Huntsville Police Department and also serves as volunteer with the HFD. His wife, Kari, is president of the Huntsville Firefighters Auxiliary.
Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1016 Sam Houston Avenue. Burial will be in the Mayes Addition in Oakwood Cemetery.
Funeral services also will be held Monday morning in Lexington.
Firefighters from Huntsville and The Woodlands will honor French when the funeral procession from Lexington reaches the intersection of state Highway 30 and Veterans Memorial Parkway.
Huntsville Fire Chief Tom Grisham said the two departments’ 100-foot aerial ladder trucks will be parked on the north and south sides of the intersection.
The ladders will extend and meet over the roadway. They will be draped with a United States flag as the procession passes under it and into Huntsville.
French will be taken to First United Methodist Church for services.
He will be carried to Oakwood Cemetery on the department’s 1947 Seagraves pumper truck that French used when he worked for the HFD.
HFD training officer Jason January, who is organizing the tribute, said the procession will proceed from the church to 11th and then left on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to the cemetery.
“There will be no east- or westbound traffic on 11th Street,” January said. “We are shutting down every intersection for that duration what could be 10 minutes.
“It will be a fitting event for a fire chief who spent so many years providing service here and in Lexington.”
While Huntsville firefighters are attending the services, firefighters from three area departments, including Trinity and Livingston, will cover at the three Huntsville fire stations.
Grisham said the Huntsville department covers for those department in similar situations.
Grisham said French’s family requested that the casket be carried to the cemetery on the Seagraves truck.
Grisham, now the HFD’s 19th fire chief, was a fulltime firefighter starting in 1976 and was French’s partner for several years during a time when they were the lone fulltime members of the HFD.
He said the last time such a tribute was paid to a firefighter was in March 1977 when Fire Chief H.B. Toney died in the line of duty.
French replaced him as fire chief.
“That is what the family wants and that is what we are going to do,” Grisham said of the funeral procession. “I see this as part of the payback to Joe because of his contributions to the city and it’s all out of respect.”
“With the impact Joe made, he has never been forgotten. He had been gone for 12 years, but not forgotten. He put his life into the department until the point that it was time for him to move on.
“Even though Huntsville has grown quite a bit since he moved, there is still a community atmosphere here and the hometown hero.
“Joe was born and raised here. He made a commitment to public safety. He was a public figure for so many years. He had a lot of friends and they have asked me over the years if I had talked to Joe. He may have been gone, but he never was forgotten.”