Des Plaines firefighter memorial statue gets fresh coat of paint
A memorial statue that serves as a tribute to a fallen Des Plaines firefighter will be back on display at the city's Thacker Street fire station, but this time it'll be inside to protect it from the elements.
The purchase and placement of the firefighter statue was one piece of Eagle Scout Maxwell Jacobs' community service project in June 2011. Jacobs and other volunteers created a memorial park outside the station, 130 E. Thacker St., which included a rose garden, benches, fences, memorial flagpoles, flags and signs.
But Fire Chief Alan Wax said time and weather left a statue whose paint was peeling and color was fading, spurring three volunteers from the Des Plaines Art Guild to restore it over the last several months.
The refurbished statue is expected to go back on display soon inside the fire department's museum building next to the fire station. The tiny one-story museum, visible from the street with its large windows, contains artifacts such as old pumps and a life net.
At this week's city council meeting, Wax honored the three Art Guild members, Rhonda Popko, Kathy Passi and Joyce Kearns, who helped restore the statue.
Popko, the guild's president, said the organization was formed in 1953 to promote artistic activities and encourage community interest in the creative and visual arts.
"I feel it's important for us to give back to the community, and doing things like this is one way that we can do that," she said.
Jacobs decided to create the memorial garden to honor Robert Coombs, who died on April 26, 1962, while trying to rescue three workers trapped 30 feet underground in a sanitary sewer near River and Rand roads. Coombs is the only Des Plaines firefighter to have died in the line of duty.
While the statue isn't an exact representation of Coombs, the statue and surrounding memorial are in tribute to him.
The statue came from a manufacturer in Brooklyn, New York, whom Jacobs found while surfing the web, said his dad, Joe Jacobs. With donations solicited from the community, the Eagle Scout paid $500 for the statue, which was a discontinued model and the last one around.