The Idaho Falls Post Register (Idaho)
SALMON, Idaho — Fourth-generation Salmon resident Bob Perry is a man who’s worn many hats and this week he is taking off the last of them.
The 60-year-old Perry has performed a dizzying array of jobs for decades: telephone technician, volunteer firefighter, emergency responder and ordained Episcopal priest.
He retired from Centurytel, one of two local phone companies, in 2007. That was the first stage of Perry’s plan to slow down the pace.
This week he steps away from the Salmon Volunteer Fire Department, where Perry has served for nearly 34 years, the past 13 of them as chief.
""I decided if I were going to do it, I should do it now while my wife and I are still healthy and young enough to travel and to enjoy life,"" said Perry, whose wife, Barbara, is recently recovered from heart surgery.
There are dozens of people in Salmon who encountered Perry for the first time when they were in distress: Their telephone systems were not functioning, their homes were on fire, they were in need of an ambulance or they had lost a loved one.
""I can’t count the number of times I’ve left my wife at a restaurant, or left every kind of function you can imagine, to go to a fire,"" Perry said. ""I think of all those years I was gone all the time and I think I’m lucky to have this time now to dedicate to my family.""
While Perry has been at the center of trauma as well as drama, his years of service haven’t passed without recognition.
The Idaho State Fire School recently presented him with a lifetime achievement award, one of only two given out since the honor was instituted. Perry was named firefighter of the year by the same organization in 2000.
Don Strong, deputy state fire marshal for northern Idaho, said Perry is the kind of leader who has equipped his men with the skills they will need to carry on in his absence.
""The community has benefited from a huge resource in Bob that they probably don’t totally understand or appreciate,"" Strong said.
Perry, a Vietnam veteran and former jet mechanic for the U.S. Navy, is a firm believer that you give back what you have been given.
""I’ve always felt the community was there for me; I need to be there for the community,"" he said.
His fire department years have not been without their comic aspects. Perry has been known to help conduct mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on pets, and his arrival at the scene of a fire wearing a priest’s collar has sometimes proved puzzling if not problematic.
In fact, Perry responded to a fire siren just moments after he was ordained as a priest at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Salmon in 1994.
""I jumped in the car and went to a house just three or four blocks from church,"" he said. ""I banged on the door and a kid answered. He looked up at me and said, ‘I called the fire department, I don’t need no priest,’ and slammed the door.""
Lemhi County averages 75 fires each year, 45 of which will typically be within Salmon’s city limits. Perry has thus fought hundreds of fires. His payment has risen from $1 per fire to $6 per blaze over the intervening years, but one thing holds as true today as it did when Perry signed on to the force.
""Dedication is 99 percent of it,"" he said. ""If you’re not committed to the job, you’re not going to do it.""
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