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 Spurling was not just a fixture around the fire department for
nearly 30 years, he was also a recognizable face around the
community. Spurling was born and raised in Lincoln and recalled
attending several different schools around Lincoln. "Let’s see, I
went to a two-room school house that taught four grades very early
on. I went to Central School for kindergarten and also Abraham
Lincoln School, I think Lincoln College uses it now for an art
studio. Then I went back to Central School, then to Lincoln Junior
High and then Lincoln High School,” he said.
Spurling also started working at an early age and handled a variety
of jobs before finding his true passion working for the fire
department. “I started working when I was about 14 years old. I was
a bus boy at a restaurant, a stock boy at a dime store and I did the
normal kid thing with cutting the weeds out of beans and detasseling
corn. Then I worked at Meyers Industries for a while. I worked at
Eaton for a really short period of time. I got on at Caterpillar in
1973 and left there in 1977. Then I worked as a laborer out of the
Springfield Local 477. I actually just gave up my card a while back.
I’d been a member there for years. I’ve done so many different
things it’s hard to remember it all and some of it I blocked out on
purpose,” he laughed.
 One thing he never blocked out was his determination to get on with
the Lincoln Fire Department. Spurling had tried to get on at the
fire department for seven years prior to his hiring on November 1,
1986. Even though in those days it was not an easy task, he never
gave up. When he was finally hired it turned out to be the most
rewarding experience for the young man who had bounced around from
job to job. "I finally had a sense of direction, a sense of purpose
really. It’s probably the most stable and most satisfying job I’ve
ever had,” he said.
"I had heard most of my young life that if you find something that
you really want to do, then that’s like ninety-five percent of the
battle, you know, if you can work a job you love. So I was
determined I was going to labor until I got on at the fire
department. Back then getting on here was not easy. People did not
give the jobs up very easy.
There have been very few people that left here over the last 40 or
50 years. But recently we’ve had some young guys move on to bigger
departments. At one time you could count the guys on one hand that
got out of here.
So it took a while to get on, you just had to wait for somebody to
come up missing or whatever...natural. Anyway, I finally got on and
just kind of knuckled down and it helped me tremendously,” said the
veteran firefighter.
Mayor Pete Andrews hired Spurling back in 1986 and Spurling said,
“he was a good guy.”
Spurling was also able to rattle off the names of the former chiefs
he had worked under throughout the years. "Ed Lecrone was my first
chief, then I think we went to Bill Haak, and then Ken Ebelherr.” He
also named off Bucky Washam, Jim Davis, Kent Hulett and current
Chief Mark Miller. "We had several chiefs and several mayors, I
cannot name them all,” he said.
While reflecting back on his lengthy career, he said, "It’s been
great. I have no complaints. I am grateful to the city. I am
grateful to the guys for putting up with me for all this time. I
couldn’t ask for anything better really. I could not have planned it
better.”
Reminiscing a little about fighting fires with Chief Miller close
by, Spurling said, “We’ve had a bunch of them.”
He did recall one fire that stood out in recent memory in Lincoln.
“As far as adrenaline-going fires, I think those three triple-story
houses over on Logan Street, the night they caught fire, might have
been the most intense. That was about forty-five minutes of real
hard going and we saved one actually. There has been a lot of them.
Milo and I have actually been in a few of them that were really
hot.”
Spurling and Chief
Mark Miller Milo is what he calls Chief
Miller and it’s obvious the two share a respect for one another.
Chief Miller said, “Larry, as the senior firefighter with LFD, was a
figure of stability. Larry has experience that is irreplaceable. We
would always talk about the changes we've seen. And in his time we
have made improvements.
"Larry was very easy to talk to and he would always share a laugh.
"Hard working is a description of Captain Spurling. Tell him what
needs done and it gets done. Larry is a great friend. I already miss
him but look forward to visiting and catching up.”
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Meanwhile before walking out the back door of
the fire department, Spurling was still offering up his
knowledge. "We try to stress to people if you have an incident
at your home that you just absolutely get out of the house.
Don’t turn your back even on a small fire. They grow in size so
fast. Just get everybody out of the house and call," Spurling
said.
Spurling also noted that he is always encouraging others to
pursue a career in firefighting. "I love this job so much that
every time I see a young guy that’s getting out of high school,
or getting out of the service or maybe having a hard time
thinking about what they want to do, I tell them to go to the
nearest fire department and try to get on,” he said.
Spurling is also quick to admit the job is not for
everybody. “It’s not for everybody that’s for sure. There is a lot
of stress in these 24 hour shifts,” he said. Employment also
requires taking a civil service test, among other qualifications
that have to be met. "There is a written test, an interview and a
physical agility test that is pretty tough,” said Spurling.
With all that now comfortably behind him, Spurling can focus on the
future and simply relax. "I think I am just going to take it real
easy the first couple weeks and ease into it,” he said of his
retirement. "Then we have a couple trips planned on our motorcycle.
My granddaughter has a birthday coming up June 1st. I am sure the
cat needs a snack immediately, so when I get home I will probably be
occupied doing that. I think the first couple of hours will just be
on the couch watching CNN.”
Retired Captain Larry Spurling (third from left) with the young guys
of the Lincoln Fire Department, James Reed, Chris Davis and Ashley
Williams. The young guys teased Spurling by affectionately calling
him “Grandpa” just before he got the last laugh and headed off into
retirement.
As Spurling left the firehouse the morning of April 23, 2016, he was
ushered home by wife Cindy, daughter Lindsey and granddaughter
Annabella. A great start to his retirement indeed.
Congratulations, Larry, and thank you for your years of service and
dedication to Lincoln, Illinois.
[Teena Lowery]
On a final note:
I believe that often times God puts us in places and it’s up to us
to choose how to react. When I was leaving work from my day job at
the Lincoln Post Office late one Friday evening, there was Larry
Spurling hanging around the dumpster in the alley outside the fire
department. I asked “Aren’t you set to retire soon?” His answer was
something like “When I clocked on today, it was for my last shift. I
will be leaving here at 7:00 in the morning.” I said something like,
“Wow, that’s great!”
We then talked around that dumpster about how working with people
for so long you all become like family. He and I agreed that we all
share experiences in the workplace and those important moments in
life with each other, just like families do.
More small talk about the fire department, the post office and life
in general ensued, and then I mentioned to him that I had probably
“known" him for about 17 years now as our paths crossed daily.
Finally I told him I really liked to do retirement pieces on my
coworkers because I believe retirement is an important event in
one’s life, much like a wedding or a birth of a child.
Then I just blurted it out. “May I come back in the morning and
interview you?” He answered “yes" but assured me that if I overslept
and did not make it by 7:00 a.m. he was out the door and it was no
big deal.
But I thought it was a big deal and God had put Larry and I in that
place that evening so his story could be told. After all a
firefighter in the community is one who puts his life on the line
without hesitation and that is certainly a big deal.
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