Hendry honored with fireman’s funeral services

   Everyone who knew Wesley Hendry says he was a giver. The Lolita resident and father of three volunteered with children’s sports teams, volunteered as a fireman in Lolita, and was willing to help anyone with anything they needed. In fact, even after his health began to decline, he continued to volunteer. 

   So, when it came time to lay Wesley to rest after a valiant battle with cancer, his fellow firemen knew that Wesley needed to be laid down like the hero they knew him to be. 

   A fireman’s funeral is quite a sight to behold. A parade of fire engines, a heartbreaking “last call” by dispatch, the handing off of his helmet to his family, are all enough to bring a full grown fire fighter to tears, and it did. Wesley's friends and fellow fire personnel stood listening to bagpipes play Amazing Grace and watched the Color Guard set up the flags, all to pay respect to their beloved friend. Then they loaded him onto a fire engine that he was instrumental in getting for the department he was so dedicated to, for one last ride.

   “Before he passed away, his mother told us she wanted him to be carried on that truck because he was such a big part of getting that engine,” said Hendry’s close friend and fellow fireman Clarence Joines. “It meant a lot. He worked with the district and pushed for that engine, so it was a big deal that he got to ride on that truck.”

   At the cemetery, Wesley was lowered from the truck they may not have without him, and laid to rest for the final time. There were few dry eyes as people remembered Wesley as a person who gave, who protected, and who loved.

   “I don’t think there was ever a person that Wesley met that wasn’t impacted,” said Bernard Scott, Ganado’s fire chief. “Everybody he met was well-impacted by Wesley. He had something about him that just made you gravitate to him, and he was always upbeat and positive.”

   Joines remembered Wesley as a protector and a lover of children.

   “He was a very protective person of everybody,” he said. “When we would go to the river he was particular about who was around, especially with the kids – my kids, his kids, he loved kids. He was instrumental in getting the Peewee football kicked off up here. He spent a lot of time redoing the field and getting people to come in and put the lights up for the kids.”

   Hendry’s helpful nature extended beyond children, however. He also had a deep love for improving the Lolita Volunteer Fire Department.

   “He helped build our new fire station,” said Joines. “He helped with our two brush trucks. He helped us completely rebuild the two old trucks. He came up with the ideas. He helped build our new fire station and was involved in a lot of the organizing it and seeing that it got done. He was instrumental in getting us everything we’ve got now. He will be greatly missed in the fire department.”

   Edna fire fighter Nick Strauss said he was most impressed by Wesley’s drive to continue to do good in the world, despite his illness.

   “What I think was so cool about him was that he had cancer, and then he went into remission, and the cancer came back, and in the middle of his fight the first time he was still making calls in between treatments,” Strauss said.  “He didn’t let cancer define him and he kept doing his own thing.”

   Hendry’s legacy will live on in all the ways his community is better for having had him in it. His fellow firemen won’t walk into their fire station without remembering that he helped build it. Peewee football players and coaches will take the field knowing they’ve got a better place to play, thanks to him. His friends and family won’t go to the river without remembering Wesley’s loving, protective gaze. According to those who loved him, Hendry was a man who loved to make the world around him better, in ways that will live on for years, even decades to come.