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Photo courtesy of Girdwood Volunteer Fire Dept. GVFR Volunteer Firefighter Rich Parry has been a Girdwood Volunteer fireman for 35 years, saving lives and cracking jokes the whole time. |
By Natalie Osborne
GVFR Spotlight Writer
I really wish that I had brought a digital recorder when I sat down to interview Girdwood Fire Department Volunteer Rich Parry. I’ve been volunteering with Rich at the Girdwood Fire Station for over two years and our lockers are side-by-side, but I was not prepared for the colorful stories that Rich was willing to share and I could not write them all down fast enough.
Rich arrived to Girdwood in 1974. It was supposed to be a first stop on a long journey that would take him to Asia, India and beyond. While he did eventually make it to some of those places, he put down roots in Girdwood. He recalled stories of his first job working for Chief Werner Egloff (who also managed the hotel restaurant) as a dishwasher in the kitchen at the Sitzmark. The day he was hired was the day that their dishwasher had broken and there were piles and piles upon dishes stacked up in the kitchen.
“In those days, the General Store consisted of two aisles of canned goods and the rest was a head shop,” he joked. He bunked at the old Fire Station and volunteered to drive Girdwood’s first ambulance, which was an old suburban with a modified fiberglass top, allowing for more head room. He shortly realized that he needed some training in first response if he really wanted to help, and began taking EMT classes, which ultimately led him to the University of Oregon, in Portland where he obtained his Advanced Paramedic Certificate.
Upon returning from Oregon, Rich began his career with the Anchorage Fire Department as a Firefighter and Paramedic. Rich still lived in Girdwood and volunteered with the Girdwood Volunteer Fire Department. In fact, there were a handful of Firefighters and Paramedics that worked with AFD, and volunteered in their community of Girdwood during the 80’s—Chief Bill Chadwick and Lee Gerrish to name a couple.
Rich has vivid recollections of the first responder environment back in the 70’s and 80’s. Before cell phones, vehicle accidents and medical needs were communicated through truckers’ radios. Truckers would call up and down the Seward Highway to each other relaying messages for help. GFD would scan channel 9 and respond to requests.
“We’d get to Johnson Pass in the worst possible weather and find several vehicles scattered on the road, and once we had to fit seven patients in the back of one ambulance“, exclaimed Rich. When asked to compare his job at AFD and the volunteer work at GFD, he stated matter-of-factly, “I knew that I was helping people in Anchorage, picking up people on the street when it’s ten below, but there was just something more satisfying about the type of calls we would get in Girdwood and on the Seward Highway where you truly knew you were saving a life.”
Rich met his wife Sue while working at AFD. She was a nurse at Regional Hospital and he would see her on his frequent runs to the hospital to deliver patients.
“I actually thought she was married, so I wasn’t afraid to talk to her,” Rich said. He has a way of saying things like this that make you laugh out loud, even when he’s not trying to be funny.
Every organization has that one personality that brings everyone in the room together – even if the issue on the table has the room divided. At the Girdwood Fire Station, Rich’s calming demeanor and clever humor breaks down walls and creates a positive working environment.
Rich retired from AFD on February 28th 2005.
“I was retired for half an hour!” he said laughing. Chief Chadwick hired Rich Parry to be the Girdwood Assistant Fire Chief on that same day.
Rich served as our Assistant Fire Chief for approximately two years before stepping down so that he could spend more time with his family. He still continues to volunteer as a Firefighter and Paramedic with Girdwood, assisting with Advanced Life Support and Firefighter classes on a regular basis, as well as other administrative duties that only someone with 35 years of experience and history would be able to do.
It should be noted also that Rich’s volunteer activities are not exclusive to the Girdwood Fire Station. He’s been seen all over the Girdwood valley helping out with the Girdwood School cross-country running team, the Alyeska Ski Club and several other organizations. Just last week he was out gate-keeping ski races in sub-zero degree weather for UAA.
So, when you see Rich Parry around town, and you will, give him a big thank you. He deserves it.