As former Gov. Walter Peterson once put it, Jim Grant was a cross between Buffalo Bill and Mother Teresa.
Hundreds of mourners walked up the steps to the Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday morning, through two lines of Grant’s fellow firefighters standing solemnly with a black band over their badges to commemorate the loss of Peterborough’s longest-serving fireman.
“My father was put on this earth to touch lives,” said Grant’s son, Nate Grant, during his eulogy. “And that’s what he did best. It was viral. People wanted to do wonderful things for other people when they were around my dad.”
Grant was known for his devotion to Peterborough, serving on the Fire Department for 51 years, as a fence viewer for nearly that long, founding Staff Development for Educators in Peterborough, working diligently for years collecting for the Salvation Army and Peterborough’s Sunshine Fund, as well as his years as an educator and principal at the Temple school.
“They say that a good camper leaves no trace behind. My dad was a terrible camper. He left his fingerprints on everything,” said Grant’s son, Caleb Grant.
During Grant’s funeral, his family and close friends spoke of his devotion to his family and to his town, but in line with Grant’s wishes, they also made the occasion a time for laughs and celebration of his life.
His wife, Lillian Grant, stood before the mourners to tell them a few secrets and stories she had gathered over their many years of marriage. The playful disagreements they had had over Grant’s love for the History Channel. Their “romantic” honeymoon in New York City, which they spent chasing fire trucks and visiting Jim’s ex-girlfriend’s mother. The time that he had confiscated a “funny cigarette” and baggie from a student during an overnight trip, and then promptly forgot about it in his travel suitcase for over two years while traveling multiple times, including across the border to Canada.
To close the service, Fire Chief Ed Walker sounded the Peterborough Fire Department’s whistle, which was once used to signal the location and severity of a fire to firefighters and eventually signal the all-clear, to recreate the signal sounded during one of the worst Peterborough fires that Grant combated – at the Consolidated High School, where the current Peterborough Elementary School is now. Then, the Fire Department Chaplain, the Rev. Shayna Appel, read a re-written version of the Firefighter’s Prayer, updated at Grant’s request.
At the end of the memorial service, Grant’s ashes were transported down the aisle of the church, once again through lines of his firefighting family, and loaded onto the Peterborough Fire Department’s antique fire truck, for one last ride around the town he loved, saluted by his brethren.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244.