Mourners pay respects to Kannapolis firefighter

December 29, 2010: Kannapolis Honor Guard firefighters John Rebels, left, and Ben Wooten stand guard over the remains of Kannapolis firefighter David Randolph Carpenter at Lady's Funeral Home during a memorial service Wednesday December 29, 2010 . Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

December 29, 2010: The procession for David Randolph Carpenter makes it's way through China Grove during a memorial service Wednesday December 29, 2010 in Kannapolis, NC . Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

December 29, 2010: The crowd listens to the service before a portrait of Kannapolis firefighter David Randolph Carpenter during a memorial service at Kannapolis Station 1. Wednesday December 29, 2010 in Kannapolis, NC . Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

December 29, 2010: David Randolph Carpenter's helmet was shown during a memorial service Wednesday December 29, 2010 in Kannapolis, NC . Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

December 29, 2010: The Kannapolis Firefighters Honor Guard carry in the remains of David Randolph Carpenter during a memorial service Wednesday December 29, 2010 in Kannapolis, NC . Photo Credit: Sean Meyers

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

When he was a child, David Carpenter would sometimes stow away in his grandfather’s car with his cousin Gene Dickson.

The two were hoping to see the avid fireman fight a fire up close.

It’s a memory Dickson fondly recalls and believes was one of the reasons Carpenter became a firefighter.

Family, friends and fellow firefighters paid their respects to the longtime firefighter Wednesday during a public memorial.

Carpenter, 58, was a firefighter with the Kannapolis Fire Department for a number of years and was also the assistant fire chief with the China Grove Fire Department. He died last week while working out at the South Rowan YMCA.

At the memorial service, members of the Kannapolis and Rowan Honor Guard stood on either side of Carpenter’s remains. Every so often, two more members would hand off a golden firefighter’s ax to the next Honor Guardsman, who would then stand as a sign that their “fallen brother” would never be alone.

Before the service, fire and emergency personnel gathered at Lady’s Funeral Home in Kannapolis, where a procession of emergency vehicles led by the fire truck Carpenter, an engineer, drove. The truck was draped in black cloth.

As the procession passed by each station where Carpenter had had a presence — Kannapolis Station 3, China Grove and finally Kannapolis Station 1 — members stood in silence in their dress blues, badges encircled by a black band.

Strangers and friends along the way stopped to reflect as the cavalcade paused long enough at each station to salute the man many in the firefighting family affectionately knew as “Carp.”

Julie Deal was one of those who waited along the road to see the procession.

“I’ve known him for five years. He was a wonderful person. He was very caring. He loved his work and always had a smile,” Deal said.

She works at a local doctor’s office and met Carpenter through work.

“This is such a big loss for our community,” she said.

Many who attended the memorial service cried a bit and laughed a lot as those who knew Carpenter talked about his jokes and playful nature.

He had a way with puns so much that the fire crew called them “carpisms.”

Assistant Rowan Fire Marshal Deborah Horne worked as a volunteer at China Grove Fire Department alongside Carpenter. He motivated Horne to endure her fire fitness requirements. One time she met Carpenter on a call at the station and in his haste he had forgotten to put on pants.

“I screamed and he screamed,” Horne said.

Carpenter jumped into his fire suit anyway.

“We never mentioned it again,” Horne said to laughter.

“It’s OK to mourn. It’s OK to grieve,” she said moments later.

China Grove Fire Chief Jeff Gledhill met Carpenter at the YMCA one day when Carpenter was working out, as he often did. Carpenter soon joined the China Grove team.

“He was there when you needed him,” Gledhill said.

It will be hard to fill his shoes, Gledhill said.

Kannapolis Fire Capt. Kirk Beard said when Carpenter first inquired about a position with the fire department he was skeptical.

“I thought who is this old man? Does he know he’s applying with the fire department,” Beard said to laughter.

Beard soon learned Carpenter was in better shape than he was, he admitted.

Beard talked about the movie “Shawshank Redemption” and how lines in the movie said everything he was feeling.

In the movie one of the characters says: “I think it would be fair to say I liked Andy from the start.”

Beard said it’s the exact way he felt about Carpenter, he liked him from the beginning.

In another scene in the movie, the character, played by actor Morgan Freeman talks about the loss of his friend and says: “I guess I just miss my friend.”

Beard said because of his faith and a shared belief that Carpenter had, he knows one day, like in the movie, the two friends will be reunited.

“I was thankful of the time we spent together,” he said.

Carpenter’s sister Lee Harizanoff talked about the David she grew up with.

When he was little he wasn’t quite the strapping man with an athlete’s body, she said.

There were times when she was bigger than her brother and had to defend him, daring anyone to mess with him.

When their father got a job in Virginia, the family wasn’t as quickly well-received as their father had thought they would be. He learned the secret to being accepted was to tell the people they were related to the Lees and Randolphs of Virginia. It seemed to work.

In recognition of their “family relations,” their father gave Carpenter the middle name Randolph and his sister the first name of Lee.

“He always wanted us to be accepted in Virginia without question,” Harizanoff said with a smile.

She said everyone remembers her brother as very health conscious, but as a child he was just finicky.

He was particular — different foods could not touch, and if they did, he wouldn’t eat, she said.

He ate healthy, but loved his sister’s chocolate pound cake, his birthday tradition.

Carpenter was a student of life, always reading about some subject and never hesitating to share his knowledge with others.

“My brother was love in action,” she said.

He was a rugby player, ran on the track team, coached a children’s soccer team and helped at a food pantry.

“We are so blessed to have him around as long as we had him,” Harizanoff said.

It was comforting and reassuring to the family Harizanoff said after the service.

“They have just embraced us here as his family,” she said of her brother’s fire department family.

“It’s a great testament to his life,” she said.

She recalled one Christmas Eve when her brother didn’t have time to go shopping for gifts, so he did the next best thing — he went to Family Dollar store and found the perfect gifts for his family.

“He wrapped them in the funny papers,” she said.

He created a handmade card and drew bows on the gifts.

It was funny but endearing that he pored over the aisles trying to find the best gift he could. Harizanoff still has the picture her brother gave her decades ago.

He loved life and lived his to the fullest, Chaplain Chris O’Guinn said during the tribute.

“His impact on those around him was profound,” he said.

Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.