Fire department is a family for two retirees

Susan Houck and Gary Lovegren are coming to the end of long and distinguished careers with the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District. The district executive assistant and the captain/paramedic are retiring effective December 31.

As is the case for so many in the fire service, their work was much more than a job - it was a calling enacted among comrades who became as close as any family.

"You feel for them just like you would for your own family," Lovegren told The Nugget. "You feel all the joys and you feel all the bad times, too."

There have been plenty of both for Houck and Lovegren. Susan has worked for the district for 22 years after serving part-time for three years. Lovegren has been in harness full-time for 20 years after a year of part-time work and serving 12 years as a volunteer.

Mark and Toni Foster hooked Lovegren into service out in Camp Sherman when Gary returned to Sisters Country to help with his family's resort at Blue Lake. He took classes for certification as a medic and served on many calls on accidents on Highway 20 to the west.

"I literally would drive out to the highway and (the ambulance would) pick me up and we'd zoom up the pass," he recalled.

He loved the work and eventually became fire chief in Camp Sherman. When the districts consolidated in the early 1990s, then-fire-chief Don Mouser suggested that Lovegren consider the fire service as a career. After working part-time for a year, he became a full-time firefighter and paramedic in 1993.

Houck was working for Cascade Medical Clinic when one of the district's directors encouraged her to apply for a part-time position with the district. The job quickly grew into a full-time administrative position - though Houck did more than handle administrative tasks.

"She was one of our ambulance drivers for awhile," Lovegren recalled. "She drove for me many times."

Houck was critical in forming district budgets - a task that got tougher during the recession when the district worked to maintain levels of service in the face of falling property tax collections. It's a task she won't miss.

"I'm so happy not to be doing another one!" she said.

Like most folks in public service, Houck's favorite aspect of the job has been the people she's worked with - both the public and her extended fire service family.

Lovegren has seen a lot during his tenure. Call-outs involving friends and family are the toughest aspect of the work, he says, and for him the highways of Sisters Country are haunted.

"There's been so many deaths on the highway. Every time I drive the highway I think where somebody died, where there was a bad accident," he said. "You just have to tune it out sometimes."

But he is quick to note that "the high points are that we saved so many lives. That's the joy of it. You do it to help people."

What does he plan to do now that he isn't tied to what really amounts to a 24/7 job?

"Ride my motorcycle," he says with not a beat of hesitation. "I've already got three trips planned this summer. Nice trips. I can't wait."

Houck says she and her husband, Mike, will get to spend more time together. She has no plans to take off next summer.

"We golf," she said. "And there's no better place to golf than right here in Central Oregon."

Neither plans to get too far away from their fire family, though. Both will stay on as volunteers. Lovegren expects to roll on calls and Houck is looking forward to working on fire prevention initiatives.

They are stepping back from a district that has become much larger than when they started, and highly professional, with 24/7 paramedic coverage. They can take deep satisfaction knowing that they were a major part of that development.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

• Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
• Phone: 5415499941