By Bill Osinski
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He traded his white-collar malaise for a fire hose and a renewed sense of purpose.
At 40, John Williamson realized that his life in corporate management had left him professionally unfulfilled, swamped with paperwork, and physically and emotionally drained from the long hours wasted on I-285.
His wife, Patti, recalls a pivotal conversation at their home in Suwanee. She asked him “Well, honey, what do you want to do?”
“When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a fireman. What kid doesn’t want to drive a firetruck?” he answered. Then, he added ruefully, “Now, I’m too old.”
Just how old do you have to be before you give up on your boyhood dreams? The Williamsons decided that 40 was way too young — and they soon learned that 40 was just young enough to become a firefighter.
So, Williamson applied to the Gwinnett Fire Department. He finished at the top of a recruit class whose members were mostly in their mid-20s.
A little more than a year ago, at the age of 42, he became a rookie firefighter.
Leaving the higher-paid management ranks turned out to be easier, and more rewarding, than he imagined.
“I just got less worried about how much money I was making,” Williamson said. “I wanted to do something I enjoyed. It’s not much fun getting up, going to work, and not enjoying it.”
Patti Williamson has witnessed the impact of her husband’s career change. Some mornings, she said, she catches him saying things like: “I get to go to work today!”
For most of his adult life, John Williamson subsisted in the 9-to-5 world. He worked as a parts manager, service manager and operations manager, mostly for high-tech companies. And though he managed to sustain a career and paycheck, Williamson felt something was missing.
“I wanted something more than sitting at a desk pushing papers,” he said.
Before starting the fire department’s 18-week training program, Williamson was required to become qualified as an emergency medical technician. Physically, he was confident that he could cut it, he said. He had always kept in shape, running and lifting weights.
But the intensive classroom work and study assignments were things he hadn’t done for 20 years, he said. He would come home late in the afternoon, study, eat dinner, then study some more before sleep.
On his first day as a firefighter, he had barely been introduced to his colleagues when the alarm sounded. He was fighting fires before his first station house meal. After he’d jumped in the firetruck, he recalled thinking, “Do I have all my stuff on?”
Having the right stuff as a firefighter means being able to act fast and capably under extreme conditions. “It’s amazing the speed at which things happen at a fire scene,” he said.
However, Patti Williamson said her husband has some innate qualities that make him a good firefighter.
“John was always the calm one,” she said. “If you have to have someone break down your door in the middle of the night when your house is on fire, he’s the kind of guy you want.”
Lt. Michael Bachelor, the commander of Station 21 in Suwanee, where Williamson is assigned, said Williamson’s age is more of an asset than a liability.
“For the most part, it’s a young man’s game, but John has maturity and life experience,” Bachelor said. “I tell my firefighters, ‘You impress me when you do it with your brains,’ ” he said.
“I wish I had more like him,” Bachelor said.
John Williamson said he brought some of his business world skills with him to firefighting. At his old job, he frequently had to deal with irritated and angry customers.
That’s helped him deal with the often-distressed people at fire scenes, he said. “We catch people at some of their worst moments,” he said.
Once the dangerous work is done, there is almost always an on-the-spot reward for having helped someone, he said. “If there’s anyone awake and alert at the scene when you leave, they always say ‘Thank you,’ ” Williamson said.
Besides, he added, even the routine excursions have their rewards. “I’ve never been waved at so much,” he said.
What does he think of his late-in-life career change now? “I should’ve done it 20 years ago, but maybe if I had, I wouldn’t appreciate it as much as I do now,” he said.
Williamson has earned the rank of Firefighter II, and he has applied for a specialized position of relief driver. Soon, after all those years, he’ll be able to drive the firetruck.