By RICK NOLTE Staff Writer
David Eddins recalls making only two truly prophetic statements in his life.
The first led to his wife of nearly 39 years, Julie, and the other to the job as Chief of the Waycross Fire Department he retired from.
Eddins’ final day leading the city’s fire service came Christmas Eve, just a bit more than two months shy of 17 years after it began.
The now former chief said he and Julie were returning from a fire conference in Savannah when they traveled through Waycross on their way home to Albany where he was the department’s deputy chief.
“As we were driving through, I made the statement that if the (chief’s) job ever opens up I’m going to put in for it,” Eddins related last week. “I’d never driven through another town and said that.”
A man of strong faith in God, Eddins is certain his almost off-the-cuff comment that day was seeded toward reality. Nine months later, on March 8, 2012, Eddins was introduced as the city’s chief.
Eddins, who retired with 37 years in fire service, said he’d been mulling his departure for a couple of years. Battalion Chief Jim Blackburn will serve as acting chief while the city advertises the position “It’s just time,” Eddins said. Eddins was born in the Washington state but moved to Albany with his family at the age of six months. He said he leaves having accomplished everything he’d hoped for in his career and in his work with the city.
“I told the commissioners, the mayor and city manager every single thing I’d thought about doing while here I’ve done, and what ever they’ve come up with since I’ve been here we’ve accomplished,” said Eddins, who’s 60. “And my own personal goals, I’m leaving nothing on the table.
“Not a lot of people can say that when they walk out the door for the last time.”
The last item on the list came Tuesday when commissioners approved a resolution amending the department’s budget. The measure adds funds this fiscal year for significant pay raises which will facilitate promotions within the department.
“It’s something Chief Blackburn won’t have to carry over the line,” Eddins said. “I’m glad I could see it through because it’s good for the department.”
see CHIEF, Page 2
Eddins Continued from Page 1 Family was the other factor that led Eddins to his decision. For Eddins, its roots trace to a time between classes while in junior college in Albany and his other instance of prophecy.
Chief
“Julie was walking through the student hall and I said to my buddies, ‘I’m going to marry that woman,” Eddins recalled.
At time, Eddins was working in a mall record in Albany as he pursued one of his three associates degrees — one in fire science. Julie worked in the mall, just down the way at the Sears candy counter.
She ventured into the music store one afternoon and bought a couple of albums.
“She told me later she wasn’t interested in the albums,” he said. “She came in to see me.”
And the rest, as they say, is history, which includes a wedding anniversary December 28.
The family now includes two married sons — Clay and Whitney and Tim and Jessica — with three children between them. The oldest grandchild is 11.
“(Grandchildren) all are growing quicker than they should,” Eddins said. “I’ve blinked and the granddaughter is 11. I blink one more time and she’ll be driving.”
In keeping with the season, there’s a gift for Julie in this decision.
“The best Christmas gift I could think of is me full time,” he said. “She hasn’t bought into that one yet.”
He said Julie works from home four days a week and says he can’t be in the house until 5 o’clock unless he’s cooking and then 4:30 is OK. There will be plenty of projects for him to do, many she generates, he admitted.
“In 37 years of this, these people become your family,” Eddins said reflecting on the profession’s 24-hour, seven-day-aweek comradarie he’ll miss. “I think about the interaction with others. It’s special and hasn’t hit me yet.”
