Ford Wirt

Submitted by Carol Gothard, VAVRS Administrative Assistant

Ford Wirt was born on April 22, 1939, in Christiansburg, Virginia. He graduated from Christiansburg High School in 1959. Ford has spent his entire life in beautiful Southwest Virginia. He has been married to Martha for 38 years and they have a son, Alex. Alex and his wife, Amber, both are strongly involved in EMS in Virginia. They both are Critical Care Paramedic/Nurse on Lifeguard 111 & 12. Martha served as a Shock-Trauma Technician in Floyd County Lifesaving and First Aid Squad. This is what you call a family affair.

Ford has been involved with the volunteer rescue movement since 1974, where he worked and formed the Floyd County Lifesaving and Frist Aid Squad. In 1975, the squad and Ford became members of the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads. Ford has been involved with VAVRS since that time. He has served in so many capacities and a leadership role. Ford stated he got involved in the rescue squads because as a young man, his father had a heart attack and Ford was about 30 minutes away. So, he went to the hospital to see his father, when he arrived his dad was unresponsive, so they decided to move him to an upstairs room. While on the elevator his dad passed on the elevator. The two people who were taken his father upstairs had no idea what to do. Ford made a promise to himself, if God will give me the strength and patience I will learn how to help and save people. You can see he has been for over 49 years. God is good!

I asked Ford what was one of the funniest things that has happened to him serving our organization or just in general. He started to chuckle and told me a story that happened during the Awards Ceremony during Convention. It goes a little like this:

I was the Master of Ceremonies and during the program someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around and there stood a person dressed as a woman, “not sure” it was a woman and she stood about 7 foot tall and reached over and kissed me on my forehead. I was totally shocked, I couldn’t talk, I just stood there and finally I finished the program in a daze. I know to this day, Ronnie Slough had something to do with it. He said, “I was in shock”.

During Ford’s career serving as a volunteer of VAVRS, he stated he met some of the greatest people and he would have never had the opportunity to meet. He stated,” We are one big happy family”. My son Alex traveled with me all over the state as a young boy. As a matter of fact, Alex tells everyone he has been involved in EMS all his life. Ford also stated, he knows of no other job you could have that would be so rewarding, I do this to help others, nothing for myself. Just a great opportunity.

In closing Ford stated he has been so blessed. His entire family has been giving back to the community, in so many ways. My family lives very close to me, especially my two granddaughters, Jordan, and Audrey. When you see Ford Wirt, tell him, “Thank you”!

Clayton Lester was born on February 20, 1935, in the Java area of Pittsylvania County in Virginia. He graduated from Spring Garden High School in 1954. After graduation, he married Adelaide Davis. They had two children, Rickie and Pamela. After Adelaide’s accidental death in 2001, he married Evelyn “Polly” Woodson in 2007. Clayton served in the Army from 1956 – 1959. He was employed by Security Bank and Trust on April 20, 1959, after being discharged from the Army on April 2nd . He stayed there until 1982 when he went to Peoples Bank where he retired as Vice President in 1988.

He decided to join the Danville Life Saving Crew while he was working at the bank that did their business. One of the leaders of the crew asked him to join. He couldn’t join until he completed his Army