THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502150201
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
THERE WAS HARDLY a seat to spare at Mt. Olive Baptist Church when citizens from across Hampton Roads gathered last Saturday to honor the founders of the Seatack Volunteer Fire Department.
Local dignitaries sat side by side with youngsters such as Virginia Beach Middle School student Maria Brown, who recited the company's history for the audience, and older people, who held fond memories of the days when an aging American LaFrance fire engine and its crew were the pride of the Seatack community.
The purpose of the tribute, sponsored by Atlantis Community Program in conjunction with the Virginia Beach Community Services Board Comprehensive Substance Abuse Program, was twofold.
The first was to recognize the men who founded what is believed to have been the first and only African American owned and operated fire company in the country when it was established in 1948, along with the women who supported their efforts. The other was to remind a younger generation of the history and pride of the Seatack community.
Cylester Shaw, the company's first chief, was on hand for the ceremony as were original members Joseph Grimstead Sr. and Preston H. Watkins.
According to a history prepared by Shaw's wife, Sadie, the fire company was the outgrowth of a civil defense unit organized in Seatack during World War II.
The federal government provided tools for fighting brush fires and a water tank without pumps mounted on a trailer.
``In the early days we had to go back into the woods carrying water packs on our backs,'' Grimstead said. ``A lot of men ended up with bad (health) problems from carrying those things.''
After the war, the Seatack Fire Warden, the Rev. David Wright, suggested that the community organize its own fire department. That they did, with the support of their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters.
``We cooked a lot of food,'' Anneva Northern, widow of founding member Lee Northern and a charter member of the Ladies' Auxiliary, recalled. ``We took orders from stores and hotels and made up the plates and delivered them - fried chicken, potato salad, yams, collards and homemade cakes. We charged $1 apiece and made good money back in those days.''
That good money was a major part of the nest egg that allowed the fledging department to buy its first truck for $3,000 second hand from the Oceana Volunteer Fire Department. Those same dinners, along with some appropriate funds and a signature note from Wright, later bought the company's first brand new truck.
Through the years the Seatack Volunteer Fire Department racked up an impressive record of firsts. Some were due to their firefighting skills, others to their expertise and diplomacy in successfully integrating both the fire company and many Virginia Beach public facilities.
The Rev. Randy Beverly of Portsmouth, guest speaker for the event, addressed many of his words to the youngsters.
``Unless we speak, unless we let the community know, they won't know we were there,'' he said of the need to spread African-American contributions to history. ``The next generation must carry on the tradition.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by JO-ANN CLEGG
Maria Brown, who recited the company's history for the audience,
joins Seatack Volunteer Fire Department founders Joseph Grimstead
Sr., left, Cylester Shaw and Preston H. Watkins, along with David
Owens, who later joined the company.
Charter members of the Seatack firefighters' Ladies Auxiliary were:
Sadie Shaw, left, Ira Watkins, Verta Dukes and Anneva Northern.
Their cooking helped raise money to buy the company's first fire
engines.
by CNB