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Back when Brown County had no paid emergency medical technicians, it had Bob Roudebush.
Roudebush, 77, died May 5. He took his final drive through town on May 9 with his old truck, Squad 1, riding along with him. So did firefighters from all parts of the county, peeling off the side streets where they’d been stationed and joining the procession.
Along Van Buren Street, former coworkers, friends, neighbors and strangers paused in salute or silence. In front of his former workplace, the Brown County EMS base, a line of EMTs and first responders stood quietly, watching.
A massive American flag hung over the road on Snyder Hill, on the way to his final resting place at Memorial Park Cemetery.
As the procession passed through town, Brown County Dispatch did his last call over the emergency radio, announcing him “10-42,” relieved of duty.
Roudebush served for 44 years as an EMT and paramedic in Brown County. He was also a founder of the Trevlac Volunteer Fire Department, which became Jackson Township VFD.
Before running an ambulance service was a paid job, Roudebush did it for free, because it needed to be done.
“In 1981, he was there when my father was shot after a gun was dropped and accidentally discharged,” remembered Jim Snider in a social media post about Roudebush’s passing.
“When my wife nearly died in 1997 after giving birth, he was there again for us. He sat with me at the hospital for a few minutes just to sure I was OK, too. A few months later, as new, panicked parents, we once again called for help when our infant son was sick and, like clockwork, Bob showed up to help us.
“I could go on and on, but I’m sure I am not the only one with memories of Bob that go on like this — certainly not after some six decades of service or more in such a close-knit community.”
The Brown County Democrat interviewed Roudebush and his co-workers when he retired in early 2016. Many stories were told of his “giving back,” like buying groceries for patients whose homes he’d visited when he had seen the cupboards were bare.
“That was the idea, was to give everything you could give,” Roudebush said.
“That’s the way it should be. If you’re able to do what you like to do, and make a living out of it, then — why not give it back?”
