Ford honored for service with Port St. Joe Fire Department
In front of family, friends and neighbors, John Ford was honored by the city of Port St. Joe upon his retirement as the city’s fire chief.
Ford, who first began with the Port St. Joe Fire Department in 1989, retired as the agency’s fire chief on July 5 of this year.
“This gentleman has been a volunteer fireman and fire chief of our city for 33 years,” said Port St. Joe Mayor Rex Buzzett at the city’s July 19 meeting. “And I think it’s really special and deserving that the city recognize Mr. John Ford.”
Ford, who was in attendance, stepped up to the podium where he was presented with a plaque commemorating his decades of service.
“Presented to John Ford, in recognition of your 33 years of dedicated service to the city of Port St. Joe as a fireman and fire chief — January 9, 1989, through July 5, 2022 — by the citizens of Port St. Joe this July 19 2022,” it read.
The room erupted in applause as Ford accepted the recognition.
Meet the Editor
Wendy Weitzel, The Star’s digital editor, joined the news outlet in August 2021, as a reporter covering primarily Gulf County.
Prior to then, she interned for Oklahoma-based news wire service Gaylord News and for Oklahoma City-based online newspaper NonDoc.com during her four years at the University of Oklahoma, from which she graduated in May with degrees in online journalism and political science.
While at OU, Weitzel was selected as Carnegie-Knight News21 Investigative Fellow among 30 top journalism students from around the country. She also was senior editor managing a 12-person newsroom in coordination with Oklahoma Watch, a non-profit news organization in eastern Oklahoma.