Cape Vincent Volunteer Fire Department, Cape Vincent, NY Mark Davis LODD 1.31.09

On Saturday 11.14.09 we set out on a 3 hour journey from our base camp near Buffalo to Cape Vincent, NY. A small town that sits on Lake Ontario and the Canadian boarder. This small town was rocked by the death of Mark Davis in January 2009. Mark responded to a call for help and while treating the patient he became agitated and retrieved a high powered rifle. Mark and three others tried to escape the residence however the patient was able to fire two rounds one of which hit Mark, killing him. It has been the method of the First Responders team to travel unannounced. We rely on God traveling ahead of us and supplying the people he wants us to cross paths with. He has always been Faithful! Do to the nature of this incident Dave felt led to try to make contact with the Chief. He was able to do so and arranged to have Mark's family meet us at the firehouse. We arrived at the firehouse to meet the Chief and past Chief. We were able to spend some time with them talking about Mark, their department, and their town. It seems to be a vacation town. They told us that the population decreases 50% after Labor day. A short time later Marks' mom, dad, and younger brother arrived at the station. We were able to tell them our story and present them with the memorial plaque. They were then able to tell their story. Mom was doing pretty well. She was so proud of her son; you could see it in her face as she talked about him. They shared stories about him and those who loved him. They called Mark "the fat man". He loved to eat they said. He loved being a volunteer. He loved everything about it. She said he also loved everything to be big and exciting. She told us that he would have been so excited about how big the funeral was and how many departments and people came. We stood in front of the firehouse across the street from a small white church. Mom pointed to that church and said she would have never imagined she would stand in the front of that church and greet 1800 people attending her son's funeral. Although she missed him greatly she knew that she had to keep moving. She was worried for the others who were with him and those who had to try and rescue him. She was concerned for how they were handling everything and moving on with their lives. They shared with us that Mark had inspired their daughter who was also a volunteer in another town and how Mark's younger brother Michael now wanted to become a volunteer. They shared that it was Michael's birthday the night Mark was killed. They were grateful that they were able to spend several hours together earlier that night. Dad said that Mark wanted to take Michael drinking for his birthday but Dad told him no. Dad said if I would have let them drink he wouldn't have gone on the call and would still be here. Mom said Mark listened to us though, he wanted to try and do the write thing. The whole time we talked, Mom held that plaque as tight as she could constantly looking at it. The plaque we had given them had an EMT on it. She asked about the fact that there was no firefighters with gear on it the scene. She loved seeing Mark in his gear. Art, Bryan, Dave, and I all independently thinking the same thing gave each other a nod and a look. Each of us knowing that we needed to leave a second plaque with the firefighter seen on it. God had anticipated the need and allowed Dave and Bryan to screw up when ordering plaques so we had an extra with us. We were able to leave an additional plaque with her. The plan was to leave one at the firehouse and for her to take the other home. As we gave Mom some additional items we brought with us i.e. the first responders quilt made by a women from our church and a signed copy of Sharon's book, she was looking for someone to hold the plaques. As the Chief went to grab for them Mark's brother grabbed for them. You could see the desire he had to hold on to them. He too held them tightly. It was obvious that Mark's death had left a void in this young mans life that would be hard to fill. I wish that all of you reading this could experience first hand the joy that these personalized visits bring to these families both biological and fire department. Thank you! to all who support Mark Inc. and this ministry. The work that you are doing is amazing. I hope that we can describe some of the joy and hope that you provide. Please check out Mark's memorial page and some of the videos of the funeral and tributes to Mark.

http://www.ti-rescue.org/Mark%20Davis%20Memorial%20Page.htm