Four generations of firefighters celebrated

KENNESAW — Firefighting runs deep in the Myers family. So deep, in fact, that the profession spans four generations across the family tree, back to when William Thomas Myers was a fireman in the early 1900s in Macon.

Friends and family honored two generations of the family Monday, Oct. 17 at Cobb County Fire Department Station 8 in Kennesaw. There, brothers David and Jimmy Myers, both retired from Cobb Fire after decades-long careers with the department, saw their sons hang legacy shields honoring them.

Initially available only to retiring Cobb firefighters but now open to past retirees, the men and women who served Cobb Fire get the chance to hang a shield with their name, years of service and rank on the wall of their preferred station.

“We decided to get one for our father, who was a retired fireman also,” said David Myers, who served in the department from 1985 to 2010 and retired as a captain.

David and Jimmy Myers’ father, Jack, was chief of the Kennesaw Fire Department for nine years prior to joining the newly formed Cobb County Fire Department in 1971. He was a battalion chief in Station 8 before retiring in 1981.

Jack Myers’ uncle was William Thomas Myers, the Macon fireman.

Four generations on, David’s son, Luke Myers, is now a Cobb firefighter, and hung his dad’s shield on the wall.

Jimmy Myers served the department from 1975 until his retirement as a lieutenant in 2000, and, like his father, worked at the old Station 8, which was on Cherokee Street and is now a county office building.

His son, Matt Myers, who first worked in the Marietta Fire Department before becoming division chief of the Paulding County Fire Department, hung Jimmy’s shield. Matt also hung a shield for Jack, his grandfather.

“I’m thankful and honored that the department has started this recognition process,” David Myers said. “Once you retired, you just kind of went away, but this … keeps you involved.”

All told, Jimmy, David, Luke and Matt Myers have served a combined 92 years in fire service across Kennesaw, Marietta, Cobb and Paulding County.

Cobb Fire Chief Bill Johnson told the dozens of people gathered in Station 8 it’s rare for him to speak at legacy shield ceremonies, but that he was honored to be invited by the Myers brothers to speak about them and their father. He also noted that it was the men and women, the rank-and-file of the department, not its leaders, who devised the idea of the shield ceremony.

“We appreciate the patience of the Myers family, because this has taken quite some time to get to this point,” Johnson said. “But I’m telling you, there’s a reason it says, ‘These are the shoulders upon which we stand,’ because people like the Myers family are the ones who laid the foundation and the roadwork, if you will, for what Cobb County Fire Department is today.”

Johnson also noted the far-reaching legacy the ceremony honored.

“We have a great respect for our retirees, and this family, like I said, in this department, three generations of one family in the fire service,” Johnson said. “It’s pretty special.”