Alex was a loving, gentle, humble man. He touched so many people by words or by deeds. He was always available to help family, friends, even friends of friends, whenever he got a call or text. No job was too small or too much for him to handle.

He loved his country. The National Anthem was his favorite song, and he would tear up whenever it played on the radio. He loves his job and wore his uniform with pride almost every day. When he wasn’t on tour, you could almost always find him at the apparatus shop or the training academy, making sure every tool his brothers and sisters needed to do their job safely and effectively was in proper working order. His hard work earned him Firefighter of the Year for 2018, an honor that he thought so many other of his brothers and sisters were more deserving of than him. Did I mention he was humble?

He loved his families, all three of them—his, mine, and the men and women of DCFD. He never wanted children, but he treated mine as if they were his own, grandbabies included. The pain and heartbreak of his passing has left a huge hole in all of our hearts. It’s not something that you ever get over, but slowly, gradually, we learn to accept that God needed him more than we did, and we learn to adapt to life without this amazing man.

He will forever be in our hearts and always thought of with the same deep, abiding love he showed everybody that was fortunate to know him. RIP, Big Cuz. You are missed terribly by all. We love you forever.