After 38 years working in the fire and rescue business, Verde Valley Fire District Assistant Chief Jerry Doeksen is stepping down and preparing to enjoy his retirement.
Doerksen is planning on taking advantage of some saved up vacation time but his last day at work is effectively this week.
Getting involved with emergency services wasn’t Doerksen’s original idea.
He started out as a building contractor, working on homes and other building around the area.
It was the work that originally brought Doerksen’s family to the area.
It was his father’s line of work and the man followed it out west from Nebraska.
Doerksen said he was in the fourth grade when they made the move to the Verde Valley.
Doerksen was a young man working with his father when things took a tragic turn.
The two were working together on a construction project when an approaching storm delivered a bolt of lightning that cut Doerksen’s father’s life short.
Doerksen said that he continued to work as a contractor, taking on the same business as his father, but eventually business started to dry out in the early 1980s.
Doerksen had already gotten involved with firefighting and rescue by this point.
“The first eight years I was a volunteer with Camp Verde [Fire District],” Doerksen said.
In fact, Doerksen said he just kind of fell into the job.
“I was at a barbecue, just cooking hamburgers,” Doerksen said.
A call came in and a friend who was a volunteer had to leave.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, July 1, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
