Full meeting transcript - December 27, 2019

» And I'll hug his neck and I'll hug his feet. Yeah, when I step a step, I'll tell him how I've missed him every minute since he left. And I'll hug his neck. Yeah, when I get where I'm going, we'll be on the team. Shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years. And I leave my heart wide open, learning how to be where I'm. First thing that I'm doing is spread my wings. First through is next in a pair of hands, on a mountain, on a pair of hands, on the sea. One pair of hands made the sun and the moon, every bird, every flower, every tree. One pair of hands form the valleys, the ocean, the rivers, and the sand. Those hands are so strong, and when life goes wrong, put your faith into one pair of hands. One pair of hands, what a sin. One pair of hands, praise the dead.

» One pair of hands Caught the raging storm And thousands of people were fed One pair of hands Said I love you And those hands They were nailed to a tree Those hands were so strong Yeah, but life is wrong Put your faith into one pair of hands Put your faith into one pair of hands Put your faith into one pair of hands One pair of hands Dear family and friends, we are gathered here today to commemorate and to celebrate the passing of Gene Coffinburg. We can truly come to a time like this in celebration because Gene had made a professional faith in Christ as his Lord and Savior.

» because of that he's perfectly well but we also come to this time in commemoration because we reflect back upon those wonderful times that we had to share with him while he was here with us in this world family i encourage you to look first and foremost to god for your strength today he tells us in his word in psalm 46 1 that he is our refuge and strength he is a ever-present help in our times of trouble secondly i would encourage you to look to these that are gathered here today Gene would have been amazed that this many people would come out to his memorial service. He would never have believed this. But draw upon their strength and their support in the days to come. We're praying for you. I know it's hard to lose a father. It's hard to lose a son. It's hard to lose a brother.

» Daisy, it's hard to lose a husband. But Gene is not gone. He's just moved on to another home. All of us here today possibly have a favorite Gene story. I have several. One of my favorite Gene stories from the fire service was back from probably 12, 13 years ago when I was an active fireman with Pine Grove Fire Department. And Gene would often come, Gene and Keith, brother, I love you, Keith. Keith and Gene were always together and they were always there to encourage me as a pastor trying to learn how to be a firefighter. I remember one of those times we had a fire over off Smyrna Road. It was a brush fire and woods fire, and there's a lot of people there, even from Richland County.

» And I remember Keith and I were talking, and the fire was out, and everything was done and over as far as that. But we saw a news media truck come up. And I looked at Keith, and we looked for Gene, and we didn't see Gene anywhere, but we saw the red lights of his truck going the opposite direction. So it was all right to me today as a news media, and thank you guys for being here today. It was amazing that they were at the front door today. I'm thinking to myself, Gene cannot run today. My favorite non-fireman teen story, Daisy took place several years ago when you and Gene got married. I got a call from him one day. He said, Todd, I need you to do me a favor. And I figured, you know, he needed me to take a fire truck to get it serviced or something like that.

» I said, sure, Gene, what do you need? He said, I need you to do mine and Daisy's wedding. I said, Gene, that's great news. I'll be honored to do your wedding. When is it? He said, what about 10 minutes? True story. I'm a little bit perplexed and shocked, and I tell him, I stutter through my words, sure, come on. I was pastor at Springville Baptist Church at that time, and I remember exactly where I was at on the road driving. It's almost to the church, and I thought to myself, you know, and Daisy, I never told you this, but I always do premarital counseling for weddings, but I thought to myself real quick, well, Daisy doesn't need it anyway.

» Gene's too hard-headed for it to do any good, so they came, and we did that wedding, my secretary and I, and Gene and Daisy, and I'll never forget that. I'll also never forget a couple months ago when you guys came down to Ellery where I moved to be a pastor back in the fall. And I remember you guys stopping to visit with us. And Gene was so proud that I was actually able to get back on the fire services of volunteer firemen. He was first and foremost a fireman. He's still the white helmet F1. That was his first love. He learned to love you guys from EMS and law enforcement. Sometime back, he called me back when he took over emergency services and he showed me the color scheme for new ambulances. And I said, Gene, they look like fire trucks. He said, yes, he smiled. But he loved you guys.

» He loved all the public service. He loved his job. He loves serving this county. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much for sharing a dear friend like Gene with me. Thank you for the fact that he could be a friend to me and Father, I could confide in him and he could confide in me and we'd talk to each other when we needed help or needed encouragement. Father, I miss that, but I'm thankful he's with you. Pray for this dear family in a great, mighty way. And Father, I pray that this service today will honor Gene, but also honor you in a great way. Thank you for your presence here through your spirit. We ask this prayer in Christ's name. I always said I only wanted grace and mercy behind me at all times, but today I'm going to make an exception.

» Thank you on behalf of the family to everyone for everything. It has been a tremendous blessing to see all the support that our family has received. for those that treated Gene on Saturday and used your talents to do the best you can to save his life, to all the visits and all the food and all the calls and the supplies, all the text messages we've seen, all the coverages that are taking place now. This entire county is covered by counties surrounding us and agencies that are surrounding us so that we can all be here as part of the county and firefighters. So all that coverage is just tremendous that everybody's protected even while we're all here. We cherish the prayers from everyone. I can tell you they've certainly made a difference.

» The deep, subtle peace that our family has received, even in the last two days, has been tremendous, and we most appreciate it for the love that each one of you have shared. It has certainly been overwhelming. I'll tell you something else that's been overwhelming is social media. To see all the posts on Twitter and all the posts on Instagram and Facebook, and I couldn't help but think, what would Gene say if I went to him right now and said, Gene, you're trending. I can see him now. You know, if I told him, Gene, you're trending, he'd say, I'm what? I'd say, you're trending. It means you're popular. You know, I can imagine. He wasn't a Facebook guy. He checked it every now and then. He wasn't a Twitter or Instagram guy, but he deserves every bit of it. Hashtag Gene F.

» You know, hashtag ES1 and all these things that we see. Hashtag big head. I'm sure that's out there somewhere, too, right? I picked on Gene all the time. He said he was going to get him a new ball cap, and I told him it would be a lot cheaper if he just went to Harbor Freight and bought him one of them cheap tarps and go over the top of his head. You know, it would be a whole lot better. But he'd give it to me, I assure you. Don't worry. He responds back quick. You know, I'm Forrest Gump, so he said, I hear you, Forrest Gump. So he always picked on me and I certainly give it back to him. You know, Gene wouldn't want any of this. He wouldn't. But he deserves all of this. He deserves every bit of it. And I'm going to tell you, there's two groups that I really want to address this morning.

» And I'm going to begin, first of all, with all of you Saturday that treated Gene. Gene passed from something that only on the sitting on an operation table could anyone have saved his life. So there's no regrets. Thank you to everybody who worked and everybody who tried to save his life. But we want you to understand there's no regret. You don't need to live with any second guesses or second chances. what you could have done better, what you may have done, what Gene died from could only be saved on an operating table. So may you have peace of that and may you know our family sincerely appreciates everything you did to try to save this life Saturday. Family also want to address as well, you know, there's no regrets.

» When you have a loved one that passes, it's a natural reaction to start thinking, what could we have done more? Where could we have visited more? Where could we have spent more time? What else could I have done for this family member? Family, there's only one regret, one legitimate regret, and that's that Gene could not see all of this while he was alive. You know, it's a shame, public safety, we're our worst enemy. Sometimes we spend a lot more time recognizing people for the great things they do for all of us after they're gone and when they're still with us. So family, if there's a regret, I just regret that Gene's not here physically as he spiritually to see all of this that's been done. You know, Jesus doesn't make any mistakes. He knows exactly what he's doing.

» I believe nothing happens incidentally, coincidentally, or accidentally with God. Everything has a divine purpose. But I have to ask, and I shared with the family this week, I have to ask if the Lord really knew what he was in for when he called this one up. Apparently heaven needed to shake up because he's getting unloaded on right now. And I can tell you, certainly, that there's an underestimation that may have taken place. Can you imagine the questions that Gene's answering and asking right now up in heaven? You know, he was our great weatherman here. And, of course, he wants to know how storms are created. He's probably asking hurricane questions now and flooding questions and all those types of stuff.

» and how can we get more warning for everybody and let them know these things are coming because he was emergency manager as well as a firefighter and as well as public servant. Why couldn't my last name be any shorter? You know, those types of questions he's probably asking in heaven right now. I shared with Gene one time, I said, Gene, you just don't understand. And I said, you got that long last name. I'm glad you don't wear a small uniform shirt because there's no way you'd ever fit your name on the front of your uniform shirt. And I talked to Gene and I said, listen, you give me instant brownie points with your daughter, my wife.

» He said, how is that? I said, the moment she said I do, being a nurse, writing her name 50 times a day as an RN, I said, she took that last name and immediately went to 311. He had nothing to respond to that. I got him on that one. You were in Gene Falconsberry's inner circle. You were in Gene's inner circle when he picked on you, when he cut up with you. You made it. You arrived to the inner circle when he picked on you. That means Daisy had to be on the inside of the inner circle because we all know what goes on there. I remember going to chief's meetings years ago. Gary Ellett was our fire marshal and Gene was deputy fire marshal. And we used to go down to station 11 over in Antioch and we'd have what's called chief's meetings.

» And we'd all come together and we'd meet and talk about county operations. My first question would be, is Gene going to be there? I want to know, is Gene going to be there? And of course he would be. And they'd get there and he'd get kind of the big head because he wanted to know, you know, Dennis, what knows Gene going to be there? Little did he know I could care less whether Gene was going to be there or not. I wanted that beautiful young lady that Gene brought with him to all those chief meetings. Brian, you remember that? He's up in the corner in there, sitting up in the booth. That's who I wanted to see. And I hated to disappoint him, but that was my purpose. And I'd pout like a little young'un when she wouldn't show up to those chief meetings because I wanted to see Amber.

» I wanted her to be there. For any of you that were ever around us, especially in the meetings that we would go to, you probably heard this because he reminded me of it often. You chose my family. He said, you can pick on me all you want to, but just remember, you chose to be in my family. He would throw that on me, and of course, I'd tell Gene, no, I chose your daughter. All this, you just happened to come with it, you know. He reminded us of that, and I'm sure many of you have heard that. I've probably been a long time since I've been this nervous in front of so many people, but I'll tell you right now, I've never been more nervous than when I knew I had to ask a question because mom and daddy raised me right. And I knew I had to ask a question.

» I had to eventually go to Gene Falkenberry and somehow try to word this question in a way that I could get a positive result because I wanted to marry his daughter. And I remember having to get pretty creative and thinking, how am I going to meet with this man and talk with this man to try to get permission? Because everybody who knew Gene is and he's a jokester. But let me tell you something, when it come to those two daughters, it was serious business. There was no joking around. That's his heart. And I knew I had to somehow break that mold. So it kind of went like one of those things where me and Gene sitting down and I told him, man, that was a big fire we had in Cassett last week. Boy, it was great. And, you know, I love Amber and I'd really like to marry her.

» You know, the volunteers showed up very well to this fire meeting, you know, trying to do that. He said, well, wait a minute. What did you say before that? And, you know, it's kind of one of those things that, well, the volunteers did. No, no. Before that, you know, I'd really like to marry your daughter. So that's just the way you had to talk to him. And I'm probably nervous I've ever been in my life. He gave me his blessing, but he also gave me some very good advice that I've done the best I can to live up to that. Probably my favorite thought is I do family reflections. And some of you around then is one of the very first fire fests that we ever did in historic Camden. And I remember there's a portable tank that is there.

» For those not in the fire service, it's kind of like a portable pool. And all the tenders come by and they dump their water in it. The pumpers pump that water out and put the fire out. It's kind of like a portable fire hydrant, if you will. And we had that there, and it was part of the games that we were playing there. And me and several other folks got around, and we were bound and determined that Gene Falkenberry was going to swim in that dump tank before that fire fest was over. And if you've ever seen somebody trying to give a cat a bath in a bathtub, it was, you know, all over the place. That's the way he was. And I remember two words that he said, cowboy boots and pager. He said, take my cowboy boots off and take my pager off.

» So we did, and Gene definitely took a dump in that dump tank. And I'm going to tell you, that was one of the fondest memories I ever remember. It was like mission accomplished. Got father-in-law in the dump tank and drowned him real good. I say this in a loving way, but Gene was one of the most aggravating people in all the planet. We can all say amen. But those that knew Gene are going to know how significant this statement is I'm about to say. Gene loved everyone more than he aggravated everyone. Remember, I told you, you made it to the inner circle when he picked on you. We certainly enjoyed that and had that time of picking back and forth. But that's how he showed his love for everyone. You know, he loved his dad. He loved his dad dearly.

» If you want men in here, if you want an example of how you need to treat your dad as a son, look no further than Gene Faulkner. He loved his sister, Debbie. Yeah, I remind Debbie this morning, before all of this, before all of us, before the fire service and all the titles, Debbie, you were there first. He loved his daughters, Daisy and Amber. They were there next. He talks about it all the time, the daughters being Gene's heart. Their pictures are all over his office. Their pictures are all in their house. And Gene and Daisy has family pictures all in their house. He talked about his daughters everywhere he went. Even this week, we had people come by the house and would testify how much Gene talked about his daughters. You see, Debbie was there first. The daughters were there next.

» But then Daisy was there until death do you part. I hope you don't mind me sharing this because I'm going to share it anyway. Saturday morning, Gene goes by dispatch and he sees Daisy, of course, and goes to check with her. And he looks at Daisy and says, Daisy, what you doing? He says, I'm eating some cake. You know, kind of smarting back off to him. So Gene looks at her up and down and says, yeah, looks like you done eat the whole thing. Inner circle. Daisy was on the inside of the inner circle. Gene, of course, loved all of his family, Stephanie and Jason. He loved all of us. He made that place for all of us in his heart. As Preacher Todd said, the fire service, then emergency services.

» He loved the fire service, and he began to love all the parts of emergency services, became director. He loved this county. He dedicated a huge part of his life to this county. Yes, he would joke. Yes, he would cut up. But he loved us. Sometimes I tell Gene, Gene, I wish I had a remote control man and I could just press mute and shut you down. Now here we are today. I'd give anything to hear one more joke. I'd give anything to hear one more pick, one more aggravation. Gene made his last trip out of town, guess where, to see his daddy. Gene made his last trip in life, in his last visit, guess where he went to go, to see his wife. Gene took his last breath of life, guess where he took it, in the parking lot of the Kershaw County Government Building.

» all our county leaders here, all our citizens, don't ever forget to give every last breath for all of us. I remember years ago, Daisy, I can't remember what year it was or what it was, but I believe I put a honk driver is 40 sign on the sign of Daisy's car, if I remember right. And Daisy testified she rode around that day and her nerves were shocked because everybody in Camden was beeping their horns at her all day long. It was one of the best tricks I've ever prayed. And I can tell you, the cap, the icing on the cake was when Gene Faulconberry walked up and tapped me on the shoulder. He said, good job, son. That means I did it. I got great pleasure in seeing Gene aggravate Patty Truesdale.

» Between days of our lives in the dispatch center every day at one o'clock and seeing Gene aggravate Patty Truesdale, that's what got us through. It's how I survived the 9-1-1 dispatch world was because of that. I pick on Dad and Gene all the time. Many of you heard it. I told them they'd be playing bingo together in a nursing home, but they kept on acting the way they are. I said, it's like grumpy old me, and I'm going to put both of y'all together and send y'all up. And Gene said, you do that all you want to, son, but I can tell you this, I'm mashing that emergency button every day. I'm going out the emergency door. You're going to have to come get me every day. I said, Gene, you're going to that nursing home far, far, far away, farther than Shrek.

» I've been blessed in the Ray family to have a loving family and a close family, but I'm going to tell you, Gene brought me Amber. Amber brought me Ansley, and Gene made sure that he brought us together with his extended family, and I've been welcomed into this family. I'll tell you today, I stand here as a blessed man, and what a family he brought me into. Folks, I met 61 cousins last night in the visitation, and I think that was just first cousins. We didn't even make it to the second cousins last night. Everybody come by. I said, let me guess, you're Gene's cousin. Yes, I am. It was an amazing visitation last night. My Nelly, what kind of family he's got. And obviously a lot of them here. I was tickled to death when he took over direction of animal control.

» Oh, y'all don't know how much pleasure I got in that. Oh, my goodness. He became Dr. Doolittle. He became the horse whisperer. He told me this time of a pot-bellied pig that got loose in Kershaw County. And he was just so happy that he was able to wrangle up this pot-bellied pig. I said, Gene, I'm not surprised. That pig probably looked at your belly and said, it's one of me. I'm going to it. He loved it. I'm telling you, y'all don't know how much enjoyment I got out of that. He's Kershaw County's public safety weatherman. I see J.D. here, Johnny Deal. He's Kershaw County's weatherman, but Gene was Kershaw County's public safety weatherman. He gives us the direct National Weather Service reports. 11, 12 a.m. Saturday morning, I got an email from Gene.

» It was the National Weather Service's report, as we get almost daily. He'd take Rick Duran's Duke Energy reports and send them to us, so we knew exactly what the watery lake was doing. South Carolina Emergency Management updates, we'd get those constantly from Gene. He took care of us and made sure that we were informed. I found out last night from people visiting that he went to Barron DeKalb High School. Not only that, he was class president of Barron DeKalb High School. Now, I find two things shocking with that. Number one, there was a Barron DeKalb High School. I didn't know there was anything east of Watery until middle school. You know, I'm a river rat, right? So we had a Barron DeKalb High School. second thing I found shocking was the word president before Gene Falkenberry's name.

» That just blew me away as well. They said he was shy, and they said he was quiet in high school, but I don't want to be rude, but I think y'all got the wrong guy. I think y'all came to the wrong funeral visitation. I didn't know Gene had a shy or bashful bone in his body. Robbie told us he needed an action shot for the back of the programs that you see there, and I said, Robbie, you want what? He said, I need an action shot. I need him holding a fire hose. You know we're doing something. I said, Robbie, Gene Falkenberry ain't seen firefighting action in 15 years other than the news. We found that shot on the back of him working and working that telephone and picking on him all the time and told him that we pay him for what he knows, not for what he does.

» So Robbie, I said, man, we were still using the bucket brigade back last time that Gene had action shots. We didn't have fire hoses then. In all seriousness and all jokes aside, Gene has aggravated me enough in life. He is not going to haunt me in death. So there's something I'm going to tell you today because As I know, Gene, you want me to tell you, we work on a thing called pre-fire plans in the fire service. It's where we go into schools and we go into churches, we go into businesses and we we put together and we prepare a pre-fire plan. So we want to be ready for that building in the event there's a fire. We know where the exits are. We know it has a sprinkler system. We know who owns the building, all those types of information in the event there's a fire.

» And we talk about that often. But, you know, there's also a spiritual pre-fire plan that every single one of us must do. Romans 10, 9 says, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. You admit that you're a sinner. You believe in the Lord Jesus, and you commit your life and confess your sin to him. See, Jesus is not a way to heaven. Jesus is the way to heaven. And I'll tell you today, Gene Falkenberry believed that with all his heart. I'll tell you today, I believe that with all my heart. And I'll tell you today, there's a lot of you in here that believe that with all your heart. But with this many people, I can tell you, Gene would want me to share that with you.

» You see, there's no denominations in heaven. There's no titles and there's no ranks in heaven. There's no firefighters or medics or dispatchers or police officers or troopers or emergency managers. There are no call signs in heaven. There's just one name by which we're all known by in heaven, and that is the bride of Christ. It's kind of like the old hymn says, do you know him today? Do not turn him away. If Gene would have turned him away on Saturday morning, this would not be a celebration of life today. And I guarantee you if there's anything that would bless this family more than anything else is to know that somebody in here has still not made your final, spiritual, eternal destination plans. That you've nailed it down.

» And what a blessing it would be for our family to find out that maybe through this, you've made that decision. You see, Gene exhaled his last breath on this side of earth Saturday just afternoon, and he inhaled his first breath in heaven where he's going to spend all eternity with the Lord. That is an absolute certainty. You can be saved. You can be certain. You can be secure. And I know Gene would want me to tell you that. While we have family, it's while we have friends. Family, I'll close with a sign that's in Daisy's house, and I couldn't help but be magnetized to this for some reason. It says forever and always, no matter what. Forever and always, no matter what. Daisy, forever and always, no matter what. Stacey, Amber, forever and always, no matter what.

» Debbie, Pawpaw, Annie Mae, forever and always, no matter what. Family, forever and always, no matter what. Gene fell in love with Southern gospel music. While you hear the Masters Three singing here today, he followed them around like a little dog. He loved it. When Gene took his last breath here on earth Saturday, I believe with all my heart, Gene heard that song many years ago. Come home, come home, it's suppertime. The shadows leap and pass. Come home, come home, it's suppertime. A big smile, grub, hearty laugh, teasing joke, and of course, daisy, always daisy. These are the things that traveled with Gene Falkenberry wherever he went. loved his children, loved his family. He loved his friends. Gene Falkenberry. When I got the message that afternoon, I responded with four words.

» I love that man. You see, I've had a love affair with his family going on 20 years. I met Dennis before he was part of the family, when he was a new cop with the city of Camden, and I was the new prosecutor, and neither one of us had any idea what we were supposed to do, but we made it through together. And I met Gene 20 years ago in his office in the basement of the courthouse. I think he was still deputy fire marshal then, was just about to become chief. And his personality just filled up the room. It's the only way to describe it. It's the only way to describe Gene. When you walked in the room with him, he filled it up. And he and I, we hung out a lot in the basement of the courthouse. That whole office, looking back on that, that office seemed to me to be about the size of a car.

» And it was jam-packed full of equipment. And it was always full of people because people like to be around Gene Falkenberg. People like to be around Gene because he knew and understood. Remember, I was just a new lawyer, scared, roaming around the courthouse, going to magistrate's court, going to family court, and I needed a place to rest. I needed a place to de-stress. I needed a place to gather my wits, and Gene sheltered me. We'd cut up. We'd talk. I'd listen. I would learn. Learned a lot from Gene. Gene knew everything that was going on in Kershaw County. Did y'all ever notice that? He knew everything that was going on in Kershaw County. He knew people. He loved this county. When I ran for the House of Representatives, I was 29 years old.

» I didn't know anything, but I knew a person who did that. Because Kershaw County, we think of it as small, but those of you in the fire service, you know it's not small, it's big. It's really big. It's just most of us only know our little part. You know, if you're in Elgin, you don't really know Cassett, and you're in Cassett, you don't really know Tukidu, and if you're in Camden, you don't really know anything but Camden. But Gene knew it all, and he loved it all. He knew its people, he knew its places, and he taught me that. He taught me that. But for Gene, I would never know places in this county that I know, and more importantly, I'd never know people that I know.

» He'd take me to barbecues at Pine Grove and Christmas parties in Westville and turkey shoots in Cassett and the Chiefs meetings in Antioch. I was so thankful at these turkey shoots that he was with me because I'm not a good shot. And the only thing that saved me was he was worse than I was. And he and Daisy had that little place in East Camden and they just filled it up with love. They just filled it up with love. Pastor, one of the fun things about these types of services is that we get to learn more about each other and the links we have, and Gene was a link. He brought us all together. He is the connection here today. He has forged the bonds of love between all of us in this church.

» Before he called the pastor and asked him to marry him that day, and I didn't know this until they called me. Now, there's three things that Senator Vincent Shaheen does not do. He does not get in dunking booths. He does not judge pageants, and although legally I'm allowed to, I'm just not qualified to marry anybody but it meant more than they could possibly know that they would have and they landed with the right person gene had a quiet staying power what i mean by that he could survive he could thrive think about it who else could handle the politics of kershaw county council for all these years and not only survive it but thrive in it sometimes public life bothered him He did. He would quietly confide in me and a few others. Rarely. He would. You never let it show.

» He was the epitome of what a public servant should be, and that's why you're all here. He's the example for us all. He served the public. Even more impressive, though, than how he handled county politics, at least to me, was how he handled the politics of the fire service. Listen, folks, the rough and tumble of what these guys do together, far, far exceeds any of the politics that I ever experienced. But not only did he survive it, he thrived in it. He was loved by the chiefs. He was loved by the volunteers. He was loved by the county. He was loved. He was amazing. But Gene never saw a stranger, did he? He never saw a stranger.

» He took God at his word, and he loved his neighbor of himself he cared for his friends and he loved his work and he loved his staff he loved his staff nobody ever left working with gene they all stayed he loved the fire service he loved his life and he left this world then she said it he left this world spending his last day with what he loved the most the work his wife because most of all what i know i learned from gene was the love of family and his precious, precious Daisy. You made him so happy. I'm so thankful. When I think of Gene, I think of Daisy. When we think of Daisy from now on, we'll think of Gene. We always will. In my mind, Gene Falkenberry is what we should all aspire to be. He's in a better place. You're right. He's there. I know he is.

» But while he was on this earth, he achieved the ultimate purpose that we could have. And he deserves the pinnacle of the compliments that we can give him. And it's simple, but it's rare, but I'll pay it to him right now because he deserves it. Gene Falkenberry is a good, good man. time and time again, and my broken heart came to him with empty hands. That's when Jesus changed Jesus changed every joy, the chains of yesterday have now been released. The bitterness that I knew, the anger that inside me grew, were all washed away by the grace and made me new.

» Because Jesus changed it Oh, Jesus changed everything Yes, there's joy and love I'm glad you're glad that I don't have to sing today Great job, great job, Danny I want to share perhaps the most comforting passage That we find in the entire Old Testament It's often shared at these services Psalm 23 I want to talk to you for just a few moments about courage in the valleys of life. Let me define courage as we begin. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. Courage is the ability to do something that frightens one. In Psalm 23, the good shepherd is God. We are the sheep. We're consistently compared to sheep in God's word because we have the propensity to wander away from the path.

» And also because the good shepherd is the one who tends to us and takes care of us and gives us courage when we are frightened. Courage and strength and encouragement have come from this passage probably more than any other. Listen again to this beautiful song. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

» Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. There are three different pictures in this great psalm. Maybe you've never caught it, or maybe you've never noticed it. Three different pictures that are painted here. First of all, the first scene, if you will, are the peaceful pastures of life. The still waters, the peaceful meadows. Gene knew both those in family and emergency service. Daisy, that was the times when things were great with family. Everybody was there at Christmas time. You had the wonderful, peaceful times. Men and women in emergency service, that's the times when there are no bad people that the cops are arresting. There's no bad calls that you're responding to.

» There's no sick folks for you EMS people. It's the rare times that things are quiet. But we know in life and in emergency services, those times don't last long, do they? Because we move in this song quickly from the pasture and the peace to the problems. The valley or the shadow of death. They come, problems arise. Let me tell you that the literal statement here in Hebrew means any place of deep, dark bloom. Sickness can be a valley. Depression can be a valley. Loneliness can be a valley. And certainly death is a valley. It takes courage to walk through that valley. Gene had that courage. That deep, dark valley might be the belly of a structure fire for you, Farmer. It might be the wreckage of a car. It might be the bottom of a lake where a recovery is being done.

» And Gene walked through those places with you. He walked through those places with families. And the reason he could walk through those places is he did not walk alone. He called me oftentimes when something bad would happen, and I would pray with him and encourage him. He knew that I was there for him. He knew that many of you were there for him, but he also knew that the good shepherd walked with him and that gave him courage to move on. That's how he could do it. The best part of this passage is the last scene. We move from the pasture to the palace. That's where Gene's moved. He's moved from these peaceful times, through the problems, through the valley of death to the place of eternal bliss. That's where he resides today.

» As a fireman and a pastor, I've dreaded one thing more than any other in these type services. Several of the people asked me, are you nervous? And I said, I'm just a little dreadful of one part. You already know what I mean. It's something we call the last call. I agree. That'll be done at cemetery. The bell, the symbolism of what we do here, it's important, but it's tough, it's hard. But I realized something as I thought about Gene in this service. There is no last call for the Christian. Gene is not out of service. He's more ten-eight today than he's ever been, believe me. The red lights have been replaced by heavenly. Closer to this point. It's entitled Red Lights, Tones, and Two-Way Radios. Gene Falkenberry loved red lights, tones, and two-way radio.

» The fire service was his love, don't you know? As director of emergency services, he learned to love EMS that he led, even though he wanted to paint their ambulances red. As a leader in Kershaw County, he loved law enforcement and their lights of blue, but if he could have, he would have changed them to red, too. Red lights, tones, and two-way radios. Things that all firemen know. The red lights guide them safely to the call and announce help is coming for all. The tones are the language of the station and dispatches the incidents located. Two radios are for communication, giving incident status and information. These things Gene knew very well. And over the course of his life and knowledge of them, he grew. So the fire service was always Gene's love, but two others would rise above.

» Daisy, you were his greatest love and you were his flower. All of us knew that it was you who gave him driving power. But there was one thing better than red lights or even his water. His Savior, light of the world, Jesus Christ, who gave him eternal life. So when you see red lights or hear pagers, tongues, fall. Remember, Gene is not out of service. For the Christian, there is no light. I'm going to close with a fireman's prayer. Bow your heads, please. When I am called to the duty, God, wherever flames may rage, give me strength to save a life, whatever be it. Help me embrace a little child before it's too late. For save an older person from the horror of that day. Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout quickly and efficiently to put the fire out.

» I want to feel my calling and give the best in me to guard my neighbor and protect their property. And if according to your will, I must answer death's call, please bless with your protecting hand my family one and all. Lord, I pray for this family. I pray for these men and women that are gathered here today. Thank you for your presence and power. Thank you for the courage that you give us to move on. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. The life of a firefighter is closely associated with the ringing of the bells. As he begins his tour of duty, it is the bells that start it all. And so through the days and night, each alarm is sounded by the bell, which calls him to fight fires and put his life in jeopardy. Pretty good at this, fellow man.

» When the fire is out and the alarm has come to an end, the bell rings five times, three rounds, each to signal the end. And now Gene Falkenberry has completed his task. The booties were well done, and the bell rings three rounds.