Answering the Call 55 Years
Bill Deremer, a lifelong resident of the Utica area, was honored with an Admiral of the Great Navy certificate by the State of Nebraska for his 55 years of service to the Utica Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department.
Deremer took some time recently to share memories of his volunteer service and life in the Utica area, “I grew up seven miles south of Utica on a farm and went to country school until the fifth grade. Then I graduated from Utica High School in 1964. I farmed for around four years after I graduated. Then I moved to Utica and worked for the coop for three years.”
Deremer’s careers included serving on the maintenance crew at Concordia and on the City of Utica maintenance department for 20 years and Seward County Road Department many years. Fehlhafer’s Inc. also employed him, “Then my neighbor, Merv Kirkpatrick, convinced me to start our own trucking company – Kirk’s Trucking. I was the dispatcher, and he was the trucker.”
Deremer and his wife Judy also purchased the old corner café in town where Judy ran a flower shop – “Gifts from Your Heart.” The big-hearted couple have loved giving back to their community, “When I first moved to Utica, one of my neighbors invited me down to the fire department on February 7, 1969. I came home and told my wife that I joined. She thought it was great. But she didn’t know what it was all going to entail. I had a lot of good people on the department that helped though.”
“I also became active with the Nebraska State Volunteer Fireman’s Association. I got to know a lot of the members and people in charge of that organization,” Deremer said. “Of course, so many of them have passed away now. I often say, ‘Oh my gosh, there is another one gone that I knew and worked with.’”
About three years after Deremer joined the department, they came out with an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) course, “That is when a lot of the members on the department decided to be EMT’s. We had a fairly large class. Out of that first class, I am still the only one that maintained my EMT.”
“My EMT card number is 348 and right now that is the third one the State of Nebraska ever issued,” he said looking back. “I only have two people in the state who have as many years or more years of EMT service than I have.”
Deremer also reflected on the countless emergency calls he has answered throughout the years, “Well, they all stand out. We have the Interstate out here and have had hellacious crashes we had to work. In my 55 years, I can only remember four, maybe five, serious house fires. We have had field fires, tractor fires, and combine fires too.”
“I had far more experiences as an EMT,” he went on. “Real bad wrecks that, you know, you go out there and you dang near have to cry to see these. One family was in a van, and they had two little boys, just a year or so old. They rolled their vehicle, and we hauled mom and dad into the hospital. My role was holding the two little boys. They were characters. As little kids they didn’t know fully what had just happened. They were crying a little bit, but not much. The family did live thankfully.”
“Another sad wreck was a car with three high school boys, who had left school after football practice and were roaring down Highway 34 and ran into the back end of a farmer’s grain truck. One was killed instantly, and another one died a bit later. The other one is still going,” he recalled.?
“With volunteer service, you’ve got to have the heart to do it. You will get called away at the most inconvenient time for you and your family. I guarantee it. You’ve got to get to the point where when that pager goes off, or however you’re notified, you’ve got to go,” Deremer admitted.?
This year, Deremer said they have had five new members join the department, “Most of them just want to do the fire side because becoming an EMT takes a lot of time and dedication. There is a lot of studying. I have taken the EMT course, and the refresher EMT course twice, and only God knows how many other classes I have taken to recertify while trying to be a fireman and EMT.”
“When you’re on the fire side, if you’re not called to active duty, then you’re going to go to some classes. ?It just seems like it is impossible to keep up with everything sometimes but it’s worth it,” he adamantly said.?
It was also hard to lose his wife Judy to COVID complications, “But she held on long enough to see all of us. She was always so supportive.”
Deremer is mostly proud of a picture he shared featuring the true legacy of service he has passed down. A legacy he hopes will continue, “The picture with all the people all around the bell is when we were sitting outside the fire station. Those are my grandkids and kids, my nieces, and nephews, and just all the people that joined after I did. I guess they followed in my footsteps.”
It would be remiss not to mention that Deremer served as fire chief for several years too, “The year I didn’t get chief, I told the guy that got to be chief, ‘One thing you need to do is stay away from my wife. ?If you don’t, she will give you the biggest hug and kiss you’ll ever receive for taking over.’”
Deremer is still an active volunteer?until February 7, 2025. At that point, he will go to inactive reserve status and will drop his EMT certification, “I can still go to the meetings and the knife and fork stuff, but my physical health is getting to me and my doctor told me I will not go on any calls anymore.”
Thinking back, he said, “It’s hard to sit here at home and listen to the pager and not go.”
Thank you for the 55 years you have answered the call, Bill.