As most of you know, we lost one of our most avid supporters and friend when Ms. Ann Mulkey, (“Mama Mulkey”) passed away on March 10th of this year. For fifteen years, I was honored to know this woman as she worked tirelessly to be sure that the legacy of her son, Louis, and eight other Charleston firefighters, Mike Benke, Billy Hutchinson, Brad Baity, Mark Kelsey, James Earl Drayton, Michael French, Brandon Thompson, and Melvin Champaign, would never be forgotten as the Charleston 9. Whether it was at the annual memorial, at planning meetings for the Charleston 9 Memorial Park, or the many other activities observed in remembrance of these men, she was outspoken, sometimes tenacious (most of the time tenacious), made phone calls, attended meetings, and otherwise let her presence be known with the sole purpose of seeing that future generations would be reminded of the sacrifices of these men.  Several years ago, she acquired a 1968 Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck from a friend in Alabama and brought it to Charleston to have it restored in memory of Louis and his eight brothers who lost their lives in the Sofa Super Store fire on June 18, 2007.  She enlisted the help of many people and spent a lot of money over the last few years to restore the truck seeing that every detail was covered in the restoration process. I was but one who joined many others who helped her get this done. She was proud of the outcome of the project, as she should have been. It has become a tangible example of what can be accomplished when people share a common goal.  Ann left us far too early. She and her son, Wayne had discussed what would happen to the truck after her passing. She wanted to make sure it would always be available to support the Charleston Fire Department and its members for years to come. Since our Team had been the counseling unit for Charleston and after discussion with Wayne, the CFD leadership and us, it was decided that the truck would be donated to our Team to be the caretakers of it to use in support of the CFD and all other firefighters. It now rests in our apparatus room with “Big John,” our Firefighter Health Initiative truck, the “Road Runner,” our Autism Awareness truck, and the “Viper,” our FDNY Ladder Tower at our office in old NCFD Station 5 in North Charleston.
On Saturday, April 23rd, we entered the truck in the Spring Fling Car Show at the Trident Technical College Campus in North Charleston. We personally wanted to bring home a trophy for her since this was our first appearance with the truck since her death. Upon arriving, we realized that this was a large show with 260 vehicles, all competing against each other rather than in separate classes. We knew we were up against some amazing vehicles and in the end the show organizers awarded trophies to the top 30 entries. Well, we finished in the top 30 and made that trophy a reality. I hope that she was looking down on us with a smile and peace in her heart. We love you Ann.