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Western Reserve Joint Fire District bids final farewell to longtime captain
POLAND
A bell sounded three times, signaling that Capt. Donald Zimmerman had completed his final task.
Minutes later, his body was placed in the fire engine on which he would take his last ride.
Family, friends and fellow firefighters gathered Monday to bid a final farewell to the 30-plus-year veteran of the Western Reserve Joint Fire District who died Wednesday at age 64. Zimmerman had battled pancreatic cancer for the last year and a half.
Members of the fire department described Zimmerman as a sometimes gruff, always genuine man who helped lead the department from the time it started up until his death.
Fire Chief David “Chip” Comstock delivered a eulogy at the Poland United Methodist Church service. He recalled that soon after the district formed in 1984, Zimmerman and late former Fire Chief Edwin “Sonny” Chinowth led the effort to build a station on Poland Township’s North Hill. In 1985, Zimmerman became captain of Station 93, a job he held until he became ill.
“Like his family of eight, he raised a station of firefighters, too,” Comstock said, referring to Zimmerman’s wife and six children.
Zimmerman served as a fire investigator for the department, as well for the Metro Arson Task Force. A farmer by trade, he began working for his family’s dairy farm in 1962, according to his obituary. Later, he worked as a hay and grain farmer.
His fellow firefighters remembered Zimmerman as someone who was direct, who spoke without a filter, and who worked hard and expected the same from others.
“He had kind of a crusty exterior with a heart of gold,” said Western Reserve Joint Fire District Lt. Tony Tucci. “He told you what he meant. If he had a problem, he told you about it. He didn’t sugarcoat it. ... He was rare with a compliment, but when he gave a compliment, it meant a great deal.”
Zimmerman’s funeral service was followed by a fire department processional that drove past his farm, Station 93, and finally to Mahoning Presbyterian Cemetery in Pulaski, where he was buried.
Western Reserve Joint Fire District officials said that Zimmerman’s legacy will live on.
“Our station, Station 93, gave him a tribute that says, ‘Don Zimmerman, captain forever,’” said Tucci. “We know there will be other captains, but in our minds he’ll always be captain.”