Watch Hill Fire Department's Chaplain Rev. Cal Lord was presented with the annual "Shep Simmons Service to the Company Award" during the August meeting. The award is named for past Assistant Chief Shepard Simmons and is given each year to a member who not only goes above and beyond the call of duty as a member but also serves as a guide for our younger members and supports the department as a whole.

Since officially joining earlier this year, Cal has proven to embody the spirit of Shep in assisting our members through training, incidents, and around the station. Cal has also has the spiritual needs of our members always in mind and is always there to talk with. He also assists in taking photos at training and is often the first person a resident may talk to when encountering an emergency or training scene. It is also not uncommon to see Cal's infectious smile as he is cracking a joke at the station or helping to make a difficult call a bit more bearable.

Cal is the Pastor of Central Baptist Church in Westerly and since 2016 has also co-chaired the annual ecumenical, inter religious blessing of our apparatus and first responder prayer service in town. During this event, members of all of our areas emergency response agencies join together with their families to seek God's blessing and to receive the good wishes of the communities they serve. Additionally, Cal was the featured preacher in 2018 where he shared his stories of serving his congregation along with the emergency services in Norwich, CT during his previous assignments. He is also a Chaplain to the Stonington Police Department and the clergy presider over the annual Westerly Fire Department Firemen's Memorial Sunday services.

For these reasons and many others, Deputy Chief Jason Simmons, the son of Shep, presented the 2019 Shep Simmons Service to the Company Award to our Fire Department Chaplain The Rev. Dr. Cal Lord.

Thank you Cal for all you do for us and "May the Shepard Continue to Watch Over us All!"