Presentation Speech for Dan Tilson, Glide First Citizen 2013
Presented by Carol Henry, Glide First Citizen 2007

Glide First Citizen has a long history of recognizing the individuals who formed and built one of the most important organizations in our community - the volunteer fire department. Over the last 53 years, more than two dozen Glide First Citizens have been honored for their contributions to the Glide Fire Department. Our first honoree this evening deserves a special place among them.

Not only has he volunteered for the department since 1985, but he’s been chief for 20 years. His leadership has guided the department as it grew.

Being fire chief is a thankless job. Bottom line -- he’s responsible for everything. While he does have staff to whom he delegates, he is personally involved with every aspect of operating this fire department. Staffing and managing personnel. Ensuring that the training programs for both firefighters and EMTs meet state requirements. Ensuring that all volunteers are up-to-date on their training. Making sure all equipment is maintained and ready to respond. Attending district board meetings and fire chief association meetings. Managing the entire budget process, which means operating the department within the tax revenue received. Actually, he does better than that – he has worked hard to under spend consistently in order to save money for new fire trucks and for the construction fund.

And while he is chief, he is also a fellow volunteer. He’s at the fire station for most Monday night drills, sometimes leading them, always showing by his presence his commitment to the department and the community. At a fire, he’s usually incident commander. He also goes on some medical runs as a first responder. Over the years, he has interrupted countless family gatherings, camp-outs, birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations to respond to fires, accidents, and medical emergencies in our community. No one will ever know how many hours he has devoted to the Glide Fire Department, but the number has to be well over 10,000.

Just managing the operation of the department is a huge job, especially for a volunteer, but he has also had the vision to look to the future of the department. He’s seen the department grow from 139 calls in 1985 to 417 calls last year, although the number of volunteers and the station itself have stayed the same since the 70s. He has maintained the department’s outstanding service despite this growth and the increasing complexity of firefighting and medical technology. For several years, he worked hard to educate the community on the fire department’s needs – writing and speaking to residents, scheduling and conducting public meetings, obtaining and responding to feedback, bringing in outside experts. He helped bring the community to where we are today – ready to take the giant step of replacing our antiquated station with one that will serve the North Umpqua region for many decades into the future.

He is committed to people – to the volunteers who work with him at the station, the community residents he protects, to the children he taught for over 30 years and the ones he works with now during outdoor educational programs and trips to space camp – which he just returned from today.

He truly wants Glide Fire Department and its volunteers to be "the best" in providing fire protection and emergency medical services to the people of our community. We volunteers who have worked with him, and we community members who have been protected by him, are grateful for his service and commitment.

Please join me in thanking and honoring Dan Tilson as Glide First Citizen 2013!

Presentation Speech for Brad Hatley, Glide First Citizen 2013
Presented by Carol Henry, Glide First Citizen 2007

Our second honoree has lived in Glide for almost 40 years and graduated from Glide High School. For many years, in many ways, he has worked to provide Glide’s children with the same opportunities he had while growing up here.

For 3 years he served on the school district’s budget committee, and for 6 years he served on the school board, two years as board chair. During all that time he grappled with the tough problems of declining funding and aging buildings, seeking solutions that would continue to ensure that our children receive quality educations. The board still calls upon his expertise. For example, recently he organized the interviews for the superintendent’s position.

He’s been a committed volunteer for both 4-H and FFA. If there’s anything you want to know about pigs, he’s the one to ask. For over a decade he’s been Project Leader for Swine. Every year he guides between 8 and 20 kids through the livestock process, from buying their piglets, through warming, feeding and vaccinating, to finally showing the animals at the fair.

He models real-world business skills as he works with his group. Imagine Power Point presentations teaching 4-H-ers about their pigs. Or spreadsheets showing how much they need to feed them. Just last week he presented his annual Salesmanship Clinic, teaching 4-H youth county-wide how to ask businesses to support the livestock program. He translates his business experience into practical information for young people – how to dress, what to say, how to write letters.

In addition to working directly with the youth, he has also been on the Executive Committee of 4-H leaders for a dozen years, serving in every officer position. And eight years ago he helped develop the 4-H Scholarship Committee, serving as its chairman ever since.

In 2002, he helped start and is president of the FFA Alumni Board, which raises money for scholarships, projects, and convention trips. He started the famous annual tri-tip dinner and auction, and all evening he’s up on the stage serving as MC and helping with the auction.

He believes in and supports FFA and 4-H because of the life skills these programs teach – skills that he once learned and now is passing on to today’s youth. He believes in giving youth hands-on education and opportunities so they can succeed, in a trade or in college. He believes in kids.

He’s also involved in local health care. He has been on the board of the Umpqua Community Health Center since 2006, and its president since 2010. During that time, the board guided construction of the new cost-saving building in Roseburg. He is talented with finances, whether it’s for the school board, 4-H, or the medical clinic. He continues to work for high-quality, lower-cost health care, especially for the under- and un-insured in our community, including patients at the clinic here in Glide.

You’d think this would take up all his time. But the list goes on. Hunters’ safety classes. Remodeling locker rooms. Helping put up new scoreboards and the new sign at the high school. Project Graduation. Judging 8th grade congressional hearings. In the last 10 years, he has donated well over 5000 volunteer hours to his community.

Whether he’s conducting a meeting, behind the scenes crunching budget numbers, out in front working a fund-raiser, or mentoring a group of children, he is a leader working for the people in our community. Please join me in honoring Brad Hatley, Glide First Citizen 2013.