MORRISTOWN --
Family, friends and "brothers" of
Firefighter Chris Trumpf said goodbye Tuesday as they
celebrated the passion Trumpf had for life, especially
life in the Morristown Fire Department.
A 25-year veteran of the department, Trumpf, 54,
lost a two-year battle with cancer last week.
"It is OK to let Chris go, knowing he rushed
into the burning house of life," the Rev. David
G. Carpenter, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in
Morristown, told about 200 people in the church
Wednesday morning. "Now the fire is out. It's
time to go back to the station to rest."
Family and members of the Morristown Fire
Department had a private service at Par-Troy Funeral
Home in Parsippany. A processional, led by the
Morristown fire chief car, drove to the Morristown
fire station for a final farewell.
In front of the station, Trumpf's gear and empty
boots pointed toward the open station doors, a
traditional farewell for those in fire service.
Firefighters slowly saluted as the family stood in
silence. Three engines in the station had their lights
flashing as sirens blared. The station doors slowly
closed as the family drove away.
At the church, Trumpf's grown children, April
Tribus and Bill and Tracy Trumpf laughed as they
remembered their father's obsession with his hair, his
meticulous cleaning and his sodding and seeding the
lawn in front of the Morristown fire station. Tribus
said that her father "lived and breathed"
the fire department.
Trumpf was a 10-year volunteer firefighter in
Whippany before he was hired full-time in Morristown.
"When he looked back, he thought he had made a
mistake in working so many hours," Tribus said.
"I didn't see it that way. He did it so he could
tell his friends not to make the same mistakes he
had."
Trumpf and his wife, Debbie, were married for 34
years. They met when she accidentally made a wrong
turn into a fire station.
"Nothing made him happier than to see her
smile," Tribus said. Tribus is expecting what
would have been Trumpf's fifth grandchild, due to
arrive in October.
The Trumpfs had built a house in Myrtle Beach,S.C.,
a plan they had for their retirement. They lived there
for five months, moving to South Carolina after Trumpf
received a bone marrow transplant in Seattle in
September 2003. It was in May when the family was told
that the leukemia had returned and spread.
From the day he was diagnosed in July 2002 with
Myelodysplastic syndrome, a precancerous condition,
through the day of his funeral, Trumpf's illness
brought the community together in an outpouring of
support.
When the family realized that Trumpf would need a
bone marrow transplant, Tribus decided to host a drive
to find a donor, either for him or for some of the
3,000 people on the national waiting list. She found
support from the Morristown Professional
Firefighters,
and together they hosted a blood drive in November
2002 that added 1,200 people to the national bone
marrow registry.
In an example of the brotherhood shared by members
of the fire service, the Hawthorne Fire Department
hosted another drive dedicated to Trumpf in January
2003. Although they only had lived in South Carolina
for five months, a service for Trumpf was held there,
as well.
On Wednesday, firefighters throughout the county
volunteered their time to cover the Morristown and
Whippany stations, so those firefighters could attend
the services. Trucks from Cedar Knolls, Morris
Township and Madison covered the Morristown fire
station, as 30 to 35 firefighters were deployed to
cover areas throughout the county, said James
Davidson, Cedar Knolls fire chief and the head of the
mutual aid association.
He said some volunteer firefighters took off of
work and full-time members used a vacation day.
Thousands of messages from family, friends and
strangers appear on a Web site created so Debbie
Trumpf could keep the community updated about her
husband's progress.
Longtime friend and fellow Firefighter Bob
Whitehead said Wednesday that he met Trumpf before
Whitehead was even hired in Morristown. Sixteen years
ago, now-Chief David Barter and Trumpf drove to his
house to tell Whitehead they were pulling for him to
receive a full-time job with the department. Whitehead
said he saw them coming and felt his heart pounding
with anxiety.
"I didn't realize that this childlike feeling
had nothing to do with becoming a firefighter,"
Whitehead said. "It was the Lord telling me that
I was about to meet a man who would become as close
and dear as a brother to me."
The men fought fires together. On their days off,
they worked in carpentry, barbequed with their
families and shared a boat.
When Trumpf was recovering from the bone marrow
transplant in Seattle, Whitehead arrived at his side.
"We are all better people to have had Chris in
our lives," he said.
Trumpf's nephew, Brian Pearson, said his uncle was
there offering support and help with his family's
business after Pearson's own father died. When Pearson
came to Morristown to have his blood tested to match
as a bone marrow donor, he said he remembers changing
the diaper of one of his twins.
"Uncle Chris stayed with me," Pearson
said. "He said, 'Make sure you treasure your
children because I treasure every minute I have with
mine.' Even though we feel this loss, we gained so
much by having Chris Trumpf in our lives."
