By Bekah Porter
The Telegraph Herald
SCALES MOUND, Ill. — Susan Meusel will remember her son’s last words to her as long as she lives.
“He turned around and said, ‘I’ll be right back. I’ve got to go help.’ And then he drove off,” she said.
On Saturday, 25-year-old Kurt M. Meusel died doing just that — helping.
Late that evening, the Schapville man learned that an elderly man with dementia had wandered from home. So the volunteer firefighter — who was to be married on July 31 — hopped onto his ATV and joined the rest of the Scales Mound Fire Protection District members to look for the missing man.
Around 9:15 p.m., the firefighters learned that their search and rescue mission had now become a fatality response as well.
According to authorities, Meusel struck a deer with his ATV, and the four-wheeler veered into a ditch and rolled, causing his death. Authorities found the elderly man later that evening.
“You can only expect that we all took it badly,” said Fire Chief Carl Winter. “He was a good kid, a good firefighter, and it’s going to be
really hard these next few days, especially on our younger firefighters who joined with (Meusel). It’s just going to be really hard.”
While Meusel encountered no smoke or flames that evening, Winter said Meusel died in the line of duty all the same, making him the first in the department’s history to do so.
“We’ve never had a loss like this before,” Winter said.
Susan said her son would be proud to know he died doing what he loved.
“If Kurt had to die, this is how he should have died — trying to help somebody,” she said. “He always wanted to help anybody he could.”
His desire to do good manifested itself early. As a senior at Scales Mound High School, Meusel joined the department as soon as he turned 18.
But the man who never shied away from hugging his mother experienced hard times on the department.
“He was involved in a bad fire one time, where one of his classmate’s grandfather died, and that set him back for a while, it bothered him so much,” she said. “But he just dove back in, and he went for more and more training, trying to improve himself and be the best he could at fighting fires.”
When Meusel was not fighting fires or working as a heavy equipment operator, he spent time with the love of his life, Kara Homb, a woman he called his “Care Bear.”
“He absolutely loved her and was looking forward to their life together,” Susan said. “He met her when he was hanging around with her older brother, but we found out later he wasn’t really hanging around for the older brother. It was her, the whole time.”
Meusel and Homb were to be married only a few weeks after Meusel’s brother’s June 19 wedding.
“We were supposed to have two weddings in the family this year,” Susan said. “Kurt would have made a wonderful husband.”
Now she instead plans for the funeral, which will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Schapville. At 7:30 p.m. today, firefighters will march in full uniform in tribute. Additionally, state officials have asked that flags be flown at half-staff until sunset on May 27 to honor Meusel.
“Kurt was just so full of life,” Susan said. “I just don’t know how we’re going to make it without him.”
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