Everett fire official touched many lives
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 11, 2003
EVERETT — Everett fire Capt. Tim Ross was the king of garage sales.
He brought shopping lists with him, scouring the sales for odds and ends for whoever might have mentioned they needed something.
If he had one, he needed another, said his wife, Kelley Ross, pointing to the nooks and crannies in the garage stuffed with "stuff."
"In one word, Tim was a collector. He collected things, and he collected us, too," Snohomish County sheriff’s Sgt. Philip Nichols said.
Ross, 49, died Dec. 5 after a five-month battle with cancer. It was a battle he and his family did not fight alone. The friends he collected during his 25 years with the Everett Fire Department were at his side.
They were there at every doctor’s appointment and hospital visit. They took turns shuttling Ross and his family to radiation treatments. More than two dozen of them shaved their heads in support of their friend two weeks after Ross was diagnosed with cancer.
They put a new roof on his house and brought teddy bears and food. They made sure he was at the ceremony when his youngest son, Stephen, became a Marine Corps officer.
And they stayed around the clock when things got tough.
"It’s really obvious that Tim touched a lot of people," said his sister, Julia Mead. "He just never knew a stranger. He could always win people over."
Tim Ross noticed the fun in life and was quick to point it out to those around him, Everett Fire Marshal Warren Burns said.
"Tim always thought about others," his wife said. "He was just really giving."
A perfect fit for a man who dedicated his life to helping others in crisis.
Ross started his career at 15 when he left home to fight fires with the U.S. Forest Service. He later became a smoke jumper, making more than 150 jumps.
Ross came to the Everett Fire Department in 1978, and was among the first group of Everett firefighters to be trained as paramedics at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
He later became a fire service and emergency medical service educator, teaching colleagues how to improve their skills.
"Some of us would wait to take a class until Tim was teaching," Burns said. "You had ‘aha’ moments with him. He was really patient."
He was active with the Critical Incident Stress Management Team, serving as state president in 2002. The team helps firefighters, police and other emergency workers cope with traumatic incidents on the job.
"Tim had a lot of empathy and passion and caring for other people," said Jack Robinson, deputy chief for the Everett department’s emergency medical services program.
The people of Everett "lost one of their best friends, whether they knew him or not," Robinson said.
Reporter Diana Hefley:
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